Remembering Kevin Nolan’s under-rated perfect hat-trick for West Ham

When we think back to the final day of the 2012-13 Premier League season, a certain hat-trick will jump out.

Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to fire home a treble for West Bromwich Albion against Manchester United, helping deny Alex Ferguson victory in his final game in charge, but he wasn’t the only Premier League player to score three that afternoon.

Kevin Nolan didn’t just score a hat-trick that day; he scored a perfect hat-trick – left foot, right foot and header, in that order – to give West Ham all three points against Reading. Yet this is probably the first time you’ve even thought about it since that day… if you were even aware it had happened in the first place.

The hat-trick took him to 10 league goals for the season – more than he ever managed in a Bolton Wanderers shirt – but his time at Upton Park won’t be remembered nearly as fondly, due in no small part to the dramatic drop-off he experienced thereafter.

After finding the net in a 3-1 victory over Southampton in February 2014, the midfielder would go on to score just once in his final 48 games for West Ham, making his status as one of Sam Allardyce’s favourites all the more frustrating for fans in east London.

But that treble against the Royals, as he became one of a select group of players to score Premier League hat-tricks for multiple clubs, was Nolan at his best.

The opener had some fortune about it, with Alex McCarthy smashing a clearance against Andy Carroll, but Nolan still had to be alert to collect the loose ball and round the keeper before sliding the ball home with his left foot.

At his best, he would anticipate a chance coming his way even when there was no reason to think it was on the cards, and this was no different.

In a sense, we