United cruised through to the semi-finals of the
Lancashire Senior Cup as Fabio bagged a hat-trick at
Rochdale.
The Brazilian's treble, allied to a second-half strike from Danny
Welbeck, overturned Joe Reidy's early opener for the hosts at
Spotland.
Fabio even had the luxury of being able to miss a penalty as United
romped to victory, keeping the Reds on course for a repeat of last
season's cup triumph.
The afternoon started slowly, however, as Reidy rose to head home
after the hosts had taken a quick short corner. After that, it was
Fabio who stole the show.
Having been brought down inside the Rochdale area after 21 minutes,
the Brazilian fired his spot-kick wide, but atoned five minutes
later by converting from close range after Rodrigo Possebon's
effort had been beaten out by home goalkeeper Sam Russell.
The Reds were ahead shortly before the interval when Fabio surged
forward and clinically fired home, and he completed his treble
within minutes of the restart, again seizing on a rebound after
Oliver Gill's header had been parried.
Then, with the hosts well beaten, Welbeck surged through on
goal and tucked home a fourth goal to seal United's passage to the
semi-finals.
United: Zieler; Eckersley, C Evans, Gill,
Derbyshire; Eikrem, Possebon, Bryan, Fabio; Welbeck,
Macheda.
