Torres fires Liverpool to victory

Fernando Torres hit a second-half hat-trick to earn Liverpool a 4-2 win over Reading in the Carling Cup.

Benitez had left the Spanish striker, signed for £24million from Atletico Madrid in the summer, out of the starting line-up for their last two Barclays Premier League matches.

But he returned with a vengeance to kill off battling Reading in a six-goal thriller at the Madejski Stadium.

Yossi Benayoun fired Liverpool ahead, but Bobby Convey volleyed an equaliser from Nicky Shorey's corner.

Torres raced clear to score but again Reading hit back when another Shorey corner was prodded in by John Halls.

But Torres made sure of their place in the fourth round when he slammed home from a John Arne Riise square ball and then ran clear before slotting home.

Arsenal's next generation showed the future is bright as a bullet header from Nicklas Bendtner and a superb strike by Brazilian Denilson beat Newcastle 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

Georgios Samaras provided the perfect answer to his many detractors as he slotted home a last-gasp Carling Cup winner for Manchester City against Norwich.

Kevin Nugent went some way towards relieving the pressure which has built since his £6million summer move to Portsmouth by striking the winner in the Carling Cup third round at Turf Moor.

Nugent's 69th minute strike past Burnley keeper Gabor Kiraly was only his second goal since arriving at Fratton Park.

West Brom were dumped out of the Carling Cup as Cardiff ran riot 4-2 at The Hawthorns.

Robbie Fowler opened the scoring after only four minutes, before Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink unleashed an unstoppable second from fully 30 yards midway through the first half.

Baggies fans were left shell-shocked as Fowler grabbed his second from the penalty spot and Trevor Sinclair got in on the act to put the visitors 4-0 up inside the opening half an hour.

Ishmael Miller grabbed a brace for Albion either side of the break to put a respectable slant on the scoreline, but it was not enough to prevent Cardiff claiming their first away win over West Brom since 1957.

Sheffield United succeeded where other Coca-Cola Championship sides had failed by easing past competition giant-killers Morecambe 5-0.

Strikers Billy Sharp and Luton Shelton each hit a double in a domineering Blades display with returning midfielder Lee Hendrie adding to the rout.

Blackpool captain Michael Jackson came off the bench to seal a 2-1 extra-time victory over Southend.

Southend, who knocked out Manchester United to reach last season's quarter-finals, looked set for another fourth-round appearance following Matt Harrold's sixth-minute penalty.

But Blackpool striker Scott Vernon struck an 81st-minute equaliser to spare the Championship side's blushes and take the game into extra-time with Jackson scoring the winner.

Matthew Spring's bullet header and a tidy finish from Drew Talbot in extra time gave Kevin Blackwell's Luton side a superb 3-1 win over Charlton.

The Addicks dominated the first half after going ahead in the fourth minute through Dean Sinclair until Steve Robinson's brilliant intervention in the 43rd minute brought the sides level.

The Hatters then had the best of an end-to-end second 45 minutes before the mightily impressive Spring buried an unstoppable header and substitute Talbot capitalised on a defensive error to score deep into extra time.

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