Western Knights were rarely troubled as they swept aside Morley Windmills 4-1 under sunny skies at Wotton Reserve. Rory Grant's second hat-trick in eight days was the inspiration behind the visitors win and keeps alive their hopes of ending the season with silverware.

It didn't take long for the Knights to show their hand as Barry Devlin volleyed just high of the crossbar from David Micevski's cross after seven minutes. Morley were equally as determined to score the opening goal which almost came when Scott McIlroy and Gareth Lloyd combined with great effect to set up Farrell Hedges who fired narrowly wide.

A blistering Micevski shot which flashed over the bar provided the impetus for the Knights to take things up a notch and seize control of the game. The pressure paid off in the 32nd minute when Luka Jukic's cross was flicked on at the near post for Grant to nod in at close-range.

Six minutes later the margin was doubled with Matt Allen this time the provider for Grant whose neat shot on the turn from nine-metres came to rest in the bottom corner of Chris Ramsey's net. Anthony Skorich almost added a third early in the second half when played through one-on-one with Ramsey but could only watch as his low shot hit the inside of the post then bounced away to safety.

A swift counter-attack shortly after looked to have put the result beyond doubt with Anthony Fearon's superb cross picking out an unmarked Skorich who headed past Ramsey. Complacency on the Knights behalf allowed Lloyd to unleash an optimistic long-range shot which, after deflecting off a defender, looped over Kevin Miller to give the host side a glimmer of hope.

Noong Naraphont should have further reduced the gap but instead flicked the ball high from five-metres after being found by Paul Dundo. With ten minutes remaining Grant completed his hat-trick by converting Allen's precise cross to ensure the Knights of a place in the Cup's last eight.

Report Courtesy of www.footballwa.net