Reading moved into the top ten after a 3-0 win over West Ham on Saturday afternoon.
West Ham, keen to bounce back from their 2-1 loss to Burnley last weekend, started the match the better.
Welsh midfielder Jack Collison went closest to opening the scoring after six minutes, but his strike cleared the bar from inside the box.
West Ham introduced Carlton Cole on the hour mark but they were handed a major blow when Joey O'Brien was dismissed from play for a second bookable offence after 65 minutes.
It got worse for the away side moments later when Ian Pearce scored from the subsequent free kick to send Reading 1-0 ahead. Simon Church then made it 2-0 ten minutes from time, when he headed home from close range.
West Ham fell apart in the final stages after seeing Collison red-carded while an Ian Harte header secured a 3-0 for the Royals.
Reading will look to record back-to-back wins when they travel to Leeds next Saturday, while West Ham host Barnsley.
