Rochdale vs Burton Albion. Sky Bet League One.
SpotlandAttendance2,666.
Saturday 5 January 2019 17:17, UK
Marcus Harness fired a hat-trick as Burton eased to a 4-0 victory against Rochdale at the Crown Oil Arena.
The midfielder, a product of the Burton academy, had only netted once for the club before the trip to Rochdale, but made it a memorable day with the first treble by a Brewers player since 2016.
They were ahead in the 18th minute, as Jake Buxton flicked on an in-swinging corner from David Templeton into the path of Harness, who forced the ball over the line from point-blank range.
Dale came close to levelling 10 minutes later when a fine move saw Ian Henderson and Matty Gillam tee up Jordan Williams for a shot at target 10 yards from goal, only for Brad Collins to block the effort with his legs.
But Burton raced down the field and doubled their lead with the next attack, Lucas Akins laying the ball off for Harness to fire a left-footed shot from 20 yards wide of Josh Lillis and into the net.
The home side improved after the break and had an Michael Williams effort ruled out for a foul in the build up. Bu tin the 78th minute Harness teed up Liam Boyce and he eased the ball wide of Lillis and into the bottom corner of the goal.
Harness completed the scoring when he rifled home a left-footed shot in the 86th minute to secure the match ball.
