Hero Ishmael Miller's power and pace earned special mention from his manager, Tony Mowbray, after his three goals against Bristol Rovers helped West Bromwich Albion into the last four of the FA Cup.

Clutching the matchball emblazoned with the signatures of his team-mates, the 21-year-old striker, who was not born the last time the Baggies reached this stage of the competition in 1982, was celebrating his first professional hat-trick.

It is not the only piece of history that he hopes will repeat itself for Albion are the only team to secure promotion to the top division and win the FA Cup final in the same season, when they did so back in 1931.

Miller, who has never played at Wembley, is relishing the prospect. He said: "It is a great feeling. It will be the first time and it is going to be brilliant. Hopefully, we can get to the final.

"Getting back into the Premier League is still the big thing for us but hopefully we can go as far as we can go in this competition.

The striker, who joined the club earlier this season from Manchester City on a permanent basis, having originally signed on loan, said: "I am desperate to get back in the Premier League, because I feel I am able to play in that division and I hope I can get back there with this club. It is a great club and we have some great players here."

The striker, who moved his goals tally to 16 for the season with last night's trio, feels his decision to move to the Black Country from the City of Manchester Stadium is starting to pay dividends, especially as he has been given the chance to play through the middle in his preferred position.

"I wanted to be playing regular football," he explained. "That is what I dreamt about as a kid and that is what convinced me to come here. We have a great club and a great atmosphere here."

"I know can always improve my work rate and I can score more goals. You could say I missed my two easiest chances tonight and scored the hardest!

"First, I went round the keeper and slipped but I just dusted myself down and I thought I could get another goal."

Despite this being his first hat-trick as a professional footballer, Miller will not have time to celebrate his achievement. Albion play again on Wednesday when Crystal Palace visit The Hawthorns in a Coca-Cola Championship encounter.

"That's the nature of the league," he said. "We have to put this game behind us now and keep accumulating points in the league.

"By the time the semi-final comes around in a month's time, we could have gone a long way to getting promoted because we have a lot of games to play."

When reminded of Albion's magnificent 1931 season, Miller intimated that the same could happen again this time. He said: "I did not know about that, but let's hope we can do it again. We have got the players to do it.

"Roman [Bednar] has come in and done exceptionally well, people like James Morrison came back today and Kevin Phillips also.

"Then there's Luke Moore as well, we have a lot of good players here. We have a great squad for this league, the manager, the fans to go far."