Nigerian strikers were on rampage in England to help their clubs progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
Youngsters, Kelechi Iheanacho and Chuba Akpom, scored their first senior hat-tricks in club football for Manchester City and Hull City respectively, while Odion Ighalo scored the match-winner for Watford.
Iheanacho’s treble helped City demolish Aston Villa 4-0 and kept Manuel Pellegrini’s hopes of a quadruple this season alive.
The youngster added to his early strike with a cool penalty before running through unchallenged in the second half to claim the match ball.
Raheem Sterling hooked in a fourth at Villa Park to ensure Sergio Aguero and David Silva were never needed from the bench.
But in 19-year-old Iheanacho, who now has eight goals this season, they have a striker who demonstrated he can be an able deputy to Aguero after he ran Villa ragged.
He left the hosts – last season’s beaten finalists – to concentrate on their survival battle with Remi Garde’s side 10 points from safety.
Akpom, on loan from Arsenal, scored thrice as Hull City beat Bury 3-1 at Gigg Lane.
He opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a clinical finish before the striker held his nerve to double the Tigers’ lead from the penalty spot early in the second half.
The 20-year-old then rounded off an afternoon to cherish when a run at the Bury defence was capped by an unstoppable finish in the 69th minute.
Ighalo’s goal two minutes from time snatched victory for Watford to rob Championship opponents Forest of a fourth-round replay after a gutsy defence.
The 26-year-old who started on the bench made the decisive impact after replacing his regular strike partner Troy Deeney with 18 minutes remaining.
