SAMMY LEE'S men lifted themselves off the bottom of the Barclays Premier League in glorious style by outclassing Reading in a convincing victory at the Reebok Stadium.

Goals from Gary Speed, Nicolas Anelka and substitute Daniel Braaten ensured that Lee picked up his first victory as manager of Wanderers.

The Wanderers boss made just one change from the side that lost to Portsmouth seven days earlier, handing a recall to Gavin McCann at the expense of Iranian international Andranik.

It was an inspired move as the former Villa man, along with the rest of his colleagues, shone on a glorious day in BL6 to halt the hosts' three-game losing streak.

Wanderers took the game by the scruff of the neck from the off and never loosened their grip as the visitors found it very difficult to contain Nicolas Anelka and El-Hadji Diouf, who were simply awesome throughout. It could quite possibly have been Diouf's best-ever performance in a Wanderers shirt!

Diouf, who reprised his role as tormentor-in-chief, found McCann in the seventh minute with a perfectly-weighted throughball. The midfielder's initial touch was possibly a tad too heavy, which allowed Ulises de la Cruz to clear the ball before it reached a hungry Anelka.

The Frenchman led a vociferous claim for a penalty just two minutes later when his shot appeared to strike the hand of Andre Bikey. Within seconds Speed had almost put Wanderers in front following a great move only to see his shot glide just over the bar.

Reading's response summed up their afternoon. De La Cruz centred a good ball which found the head of Kevin Doyle, but the normally-clinical striker was woefully off target with his header.

Diouf thought he had broken the deadlock after Marcus Hahnemann could only parry Anelka's shot into his path. But the Senegalese star saw his follow-up effort get cleared off the line.

Wanderers' persistence paid off handsomely on 32 minutes when Gary Speed leapt splendidly above Brynar Gunarsson to powerfully head Diouf's corner-kick into the back of the net.

The tough-tackling and hard-working McCann almost doubled his side's lead seven minutes later but was unable to connect to Hunt's slightly overhit cross after the full-back was played in brilliantly by Diouf.

McCann was looking to get on the scoresheet and was denied yet again by Hahnemann two minutes after the restart after playing a clever one-two with Diouf.

One of the visitors' rare forays into the Wanderers box almost paid off in the 53rd minute when de la Cruz carved open an opportunity for himself, only to see his strike hit the side-netting.

Wanderers' riposte almost saw them get the second their play deserved, when Anelka charged 25 yards up field only to see his low drive go inches wide of the post.

But the Frenchman was not to be denied less than sixty seconds later when he claimed his third goal in just four games to effectively seal victory. Again, Diouf was the provider as he intelligently released his fellow frontman. A challenge from de la Cruz wasn't able to put off the former Arsenal hitman, whose cool finish trickled over the line.

The result was never in doubt, but Wanderers wanted more to banish their bad start.

Braaten replaced the outstanding Alonso, who left the field to a standing ovation, in the 75th minute.

Captain Kevin Nolan found himself unlucky not to get his name among the goals when a trademark volley went narrowly wide.

But not longer after the fourth official indicated four minutes of additional time, Braaten fantastically netted his first goal for the club after connecting to Anelka's scintillating cross.