Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham
| By Mandeep Sanghera |
 Lee (centre) is congratulated after his goal in the win against West Ham |
West Ham keeper Robert Green's sloppy error helped Bolton beat the Hammers and climb out of the bottom three.
Bolton had taken the lead when Chung-Yong Lee played a one-two with Ivan Klasnic and dinked in a shot, before Alessandro Diamanti fired in to level.
But Green spilled a Gary Cahill shot in front of Klasnic, who pounced to score from point-blank range.
Cahill nodded in at the far post to add to Bolton's lead and increase West Ham's relegation fears.
Green - who hopes to be in England's World Cup squad next year - had stressed the importance of the game with both clubs in the bottom three ahead of the fixture.
And the tension of the situation appeared to have more of an impact on the visitors.
The Hammers, who have the uncertainty of financial problems and a possible takeover hanging over them, can usually be expected to produce neat and tidy football under manager Gianfranco Zola but even this deserted them for the most part at the Reebok Stadium.
The visitors looked disjointed and lacked any sort of threat before suffering a setback when Kieron Dyer, whose tame shot being saved had given them a rare sight of the home goal, was forced off after just 21 minutes because of injury.
Bolton were putting in a hard-working display and did not take long to wrestle the initiative from the visitors, although they were struggling to produce the guile to exert any concerted pressure on the West Ham goal.
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However, the home side did have the better of the fleeting chances in the opening half, with striker Kevin Davies robbing Jack Collison of possession and having a shot deflected just wide by Danny Gabbidon.
Cahill glanced an inviting Paul Robinson cross high and wide, while Fabrice Muamba's 25-yard shot bounced narrowly past the post after taking a deflection.
Klasnic ran on to a Lee pass but his left-foot shot swerved just wide of keeper Green's goal.
West Ham had not won on their travels since the opening day of the season and it was easy to see why as they rarely looked like breaking a record of failing to earn a victory at the Reebok in 10 attempts.
But the pace and intensity of the game picked up after the break and Bolton midfielder Tamir Cohen had a goal-bound six-yard effort blocked at the far post by Gabbidon.
Cahill had a well-struck shot blocked by keeper Green, and after the clearance was picked up by Scott Parker the Hammers midfielder produced a surging run from inside his own half before having a 22-yard strike palmed wide by keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
The inhibitions of both sides had now been shrugged off and Bolton took the lead when Lee cut inside from the left flank, played a one-two with Klasnic and lifted the ball over the on-rushing Green.
Bolton appeared set to earn their first clean sheet in the Premier League this season but a well-worked West Ham move ended their hopes of doing so.
The previously anonymous Guillermo Franco crossed for Collison to touch the ball on to Diamanti, who fired in from 12 yards.
To their credit, Bolton continued to press and were rewarded when Green's error allowed Klasnic to sidefoot in the winner from point-blank range.
Cahill added the finishing touch to Bolton's win when he headed in a Ricardo Gardner corner at the far post to help relieve some of the pressure on manager Gary Megson.