Six of the best for Hammers

Ricardo Vaz Te's hat-trick hauled West Ham back into the automatic promotion race in a stunning 6-0 demolition of Brighton.

The Hammers shrugged off their recent home misery by blitzing Gus Poyet's play-off hopefuls with three goals in the first 10 minutes, before finishing them off in the second half. Portuguese winger Vaz Te started the rout with a quickfire brace before skipper Kevin Nolan added the third. Vaz Te struck again with a superb scissor kick just after the hour mark to take his tally to five goals in his last two matches. Carlton Cole added the fifth and Brighton's misery was complete when Gary Dicker put through his own net. Sam Allardyce's side, who had slipped off the pace following a rotten run of seven home matches without a win, are now just three points behind second-placed Southampton with three games to play. Poyet, by contrast, has maintained for most of the season his team are not ready for promotion, and they certainly set about proving him right with a woeful display.