Ricardo Vaz Te's sensational start to life as a West Ham United player continued as the Portuguese forward scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 thrashing of Brighton & Hove Albion on this day in 2012.
The deadline day signing had scored five goals in his previous four appearances and seven in eleven matches since arriving from Barnsley, and that hot streak went on as the Seagulls were blown away at the Boleyn Ground.
Vaz Te opened the scoring with a thumping effort from 25 yards before doubling the Hammers' lead with a far-post header from Gary O'Neil's cross. Kevin Nolan made it 3-0 within eleven minutes with a close-range finish after James Tomkins headed Matt Taylor's free-kick across the face of goal.
It was four for West Ham and three for Vaz Te on 62 minutes when Carlton Cole headed Taylor's cross into the danger zone and the No12 acrobatically smashed the ball into the top corner.
Two minutes later, Cole cut inside from the left and his shot looped into the net via a deflection off Henri Lansbury, and the scoring was complete 12 minutes from full-time when Gary Dicker put the ball into his own net.
West Ham's biggest win since January 1998 boosted the Hammers' chances of winning automatic promotion, but they would ultimately finish third and go up via the Play-Offs, with Vaz Te scoring a Wembley winner against Blackpool.
