Football - Welsh Cup fourth round UWIC 1 Haverfordwest County 4 THE Bluebirds found UWIC quite stiff opposition for a while, but slowly got the measure of their Motaquote Welsh League opponents and by the second half were well on top, as Tim Hicks bundled in his third hat-trick of the season.

The Eddie's Snooker Bar-sponsored Bluebirds now go through to a quarter final, away to Aberystwyth on March 5th.

The Blues had more of the early pressure, without being in command, but UWIC did in fact have a very strong defence, so it was a measure of the Bluebirds' performance that they had the skill and craft to crack the UWIC defence four times.

There was a flurry of activity in the fifth minute as Hicks flicked a lovely ball on to Richie Adams, whose left foot shot was well saved by keeper King, and then Dean Rossiter drove wide.

UWIC's Ryan Jenkins, a constant threat, was through in a one-on-one with Lee Kendall, but was foiled. A fine run by Lee Hudgell then took him past two defenders to win a corner, which Colin Loss played in and Wyn Thomas headed powerfully over the bar.

A mix-up between Kendall and Dai Barnhouse saw the defender having to squeeze the ball out of play in a hurry and concede a free kick in doing so, but the Blues defence, which played very well throughout, cleared their lines easily.

In the 31st minute came the ominous sight of Loss limping off with a calf muscle injury, but three minutes after that came the first goal.

Again it was the Adams-Hicks axis which set it up, and again it was arch-finisher Tim Hicks, the Lee Trundle of the Bridge Meadow (he likes scoring in Cup games) who got on to the score sheet.

Rossiter headed a ball through from midfield and Adams brought it down before sliding a made-to-measure pass to Hicks who drove in coolly from 12 yards.

The second half started with a burst of strong UWIC pressure and a free kick in the 57th minute went right across the Blues box without a UWIC head getting to it.

Two minutes later, Nick Palmer played a fine ball out to Adams on the left, and his cross was well dealt with by keeper King.

Adams, Hudgell and Palmer were all now buzzing, and the Blues went further ahead in the 61st minute after a fine run down the left by Lee Hudgell, whose sweetly-played cross was met at the far post by Hicks, who drove in.

Nine minutes later, a fine move by Hudgell, Palmer and Hicks saw the ball scrambled out for a corner, but when the corner came in Wyn Thomas's header was blocked on the line by a UWIC defender, for Hicks to pounce for his hat-trick.

UWIC did pull one back in the 76th minute when their player-manager Ian Mitchell beat the offside trap and managed to squeeze the ball past Kendall in a one-on-one.

The goal that rounded off the afternoon was a welcome first goal of the season for Nicky Palmer. Deryn Brace's free kick was headed on, again by Thomas, and it was 'Palms' who blasted home emphatically from close range.

The Blues travel to play Porthmadog next Saturday, and follow that with the big top-six game, at home to Bangor City, on the Bridge Meadow on 19th February.

Haverfordwest County: Kendall; Barnhouse, Brace, Thomas; Blain, Rossiter, Palmer, Loss (Catlin, 34), Hudgell; Hicks, Adams (Algieri, 72). Sub not used: Lewis.

lBluebirds Tote: No winner this week the numbers were 22-36-44. Next week prize money is £1,500.