Teenager Adam Idah struck a hat-trick to fire Norwich into the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2013 as they brushed aside Preston 4-2 at Deepdale.
Idah, making only his second Norwich start days after his Premier League debut as a substitute against Crystal Palace, opened the scoring inside 90 seconds and made it 3-0 before half-time when he fired in a second from distance.
In between the 18-year-old who is on Nigeria’s radar played a key role in Onel Hernandez’s strike and he was not done there, sealing his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 61st minute after Billy Bodin pulled one back for Preston.
The Republic of Ireland under-21 forward needed only 84 seconds to score his first Norwich goal.
Marco Stiepermann’s pass sliced open the Preston defence and released Idah, and he slipped the ball beyond Connor Ripley and into the corner of the net.
Idah was involved again when Norwich doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark as he broke through the Preston defence again.
This time Ripley blocked Idah’s shot but then failed to deal with Hernandez’s strike as he followed up.
And the game looked over before half-time as Idah struck his second – another moment Ripley will not want to see again.
The keeper, standing in for regular stopper Declan Rudd, came darting off his line to beat Hernandez to the throughball, but succeeded only in playing it to Idah who lofted a shot into the net from distance.
Ripley hauled down Idah as he ran through on goal, collecting a yellow card, and the teenager coolly slotted home the penalty for his hat-trick.
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