Ishmael Miller plundered a hat-trick as West Brom thumped Bristol Rovers 5-1 in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Extra touch of class sends West Brom into semi-finals
Ishmael Miller plundered a hat-trick as West Bromwich Albion thumped Bristol Rovers 5-1 in the FA Cup quarter-final tie at the Memorial Stadium.
After a weekend of surprise results leading up to the final last eight match, Rovers gave as good as they got against their Championship opponents for long periods.
The League One side fought their way back into the game through Danny Coles' close-range finish after James Morrison and Miller had seemingly put West Brom in command.
But Miller's second goal, albeit with a whiff of debate, knocked the stuffing out of Rovers on 69 minutes as Paul Trollope's side were unable to cause another upset.
The evergreen Kevin Phillips came off the bench to score West Brom's fourth goal before Miller, who could have scored five, completed his hat-trick in the latter stages.
Cheered on by a partisan home crowd at the Memorial Stadium, Rovers settled quickest and made a solid start.
Rickie Lambert had a goalbound shot from the edge of the area blocked by Paul Robinson in the sixth minute.
At the opposite end, Miller had a shot deflected wide before Chris Brunt's excellent low cross in the 11th minute just eluded Roman Bednar who was arriving at pace inside the six-yard box.
Pressure pays off
Rovers goalkeeper Steve Phillips had to be quick off his line to block Miller's header just inside the 18-yard box before recovering to thwart Jonathan Greening's attempted lob from the rebound.
Albion's pressure paid off in the 17th minute when Morrison opened the scoring.
Bednar got a low shot away from the edge of the area that Phillips should have done better than to parry into the path of Morrison, who had the simple task of side-footing the ball home from close-range.
Lambert missed a glorious chance to equalise midway through the first half when, unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box, he side-footed a shot straight at Kiely.
The Championship side made their League One opponents pay the price for that miss when Miller doubled their lead on the half-hour mark.
Miller latched on to a long punt forward and turned his marker on the right-hand side of the penalty area before unleashing a left-foot shot that flew past Phillips with the aid of a slight deflection.
Not disheartened
But Rovers were not disheartened and produced an instant reply. Coles ghosted in unmarked at the far post to poke the ball through Kiely's legs from inside the six-yard box following Stuart Campbell's corner.
Miller might have restored West Brom's two-goal lead on the stroke of half-time when he was one-on-one with Phillips, but after rounding the Rovers goalkeeper and with an open goal at his mercy he slipped at the vital moment and the chance was gone.
Rovers were lucky to escape when Phillips flapped at Morrison's cross under pressure from Bednar five minutes into the second half.
Miller was presented with another one-on-one opportunity when Koren slipped a lovely reverse ball down the left-hand side of the Rovers defence, but the striker snatched at the chance and blazed his angled shot off target.
Controversial
The striker did grab his second goal on 69 minutes, albeit in controversial circumstances. Koren headed the ball forward in the direction of Kevin Phillips, with Miller retreating from an offside position.
Rovers defender Craig Hinton flicked the ball on and it broke to Miller who held off a challenge to slide the ball under Steve Phillips from 15 yards out.
Phillips all but settled the tie soon after when another clever reverse ball by Koren put him through on goal with just his namesake to beat, and the Championship player of the season made no mistake as he poked the ball into the bottom corner.
Lewis Haldane hit the post in the 81st minute with a right-foot shot from the edge of the area as Rovers looked to get back into the tie.
But it was to no avail as Miller completed his hat-trick and added some gloss to the scoreline in the 85th minute, controlling a low cross before coolly steering the ball into the bottom corner from 15 yards.
