What is your favourite Aston Villa hat trick?

Nearly anyone can score one goal in a match. Some players can unexpectedly score two goals. There are very few fluky hat tricks. If you score three goals in one match, it generally means you took that match and made it your own. Watching one happen can be quite the sight.

Q: Last week Scott Sinclair scored a hat trick in the League Cup win over Notts County. What is your favorite Aston Villa hat trick of all time?

Herbert

Christian Benteke's hat trick against QPR was absolutely incredible. His first two goals were so clinically taken, and to have the guts to bury that free kick in the dying minutes - an ability he had never demonstrated before - was the pinnacle of his Villa career. Without that point (more importantly, not giving QPR two more points) it is very possible that we would have gone down.

Elis

Definitely John Carew's hat trick against Newcastle back in the day. Newcastle are a fun team to beat and it was a 4-1 win which also saw Wilfried Bouma score his only goal for Villa. A good day all told.

Robert

Christian Benteke against Sunderland. Without the big man's superb efforts, that would have merely been a boring 3-1 win that saved the club from relegation. Instead, it was a thrilling 6-1 affair that seemed (at the time) to state Villa's intent at being better.

Of course, that didn't really work out. But you can't win 'em all!

Jack

Well, Robert stole my answer. I've also got to go with Benteke's hat trick against Sunderland at the end of April 2013. It was a bonafide 6-pointer, and the win basically secured our spot in the Premier League for the next season. It was nervy too, a minute after Ron Vlaar opened the scoring, we conceded. But Benteke's three goals in a 17-minute span made me (and my friends at the bar) very happy.

RJ

Going back to what feels like a lifetime ago, Gabby Agbonlahor scored a seven-minute hat trick against Manchester City in the second half in a 4-2 win on the opening day of the 2008-09 season. Villa had Champions League ambitions that season (and should've finished in the top four) and with a homegrown player like Agbonlahor leading the way, it felt was one of the more feel-good results and performances in my Villa memory.

Rory

I'm gonna have to agree with Herbert on this one, and I liked how he put it as well - it really was the "pinnacle' of Christian Benteke. In a huge match where the rest of our players didn't show up, he carried Villa. He scored so many important and impressive goals for this club, but I'll always remember that game and those goals. It almost brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Alex

I've gotta join Robert and Jack here with Benteke's hat trick in the 6-1 over Sunderland. That was the last of my fun moments of trying to sneak off and follow Villa during baseball practice — constantly refreshing Twitter and seeing we'd scored again was a lot of fun, and really made me feel good about stuff.

Matt

I was hoping my choice would sneak through without anyone mentioning it, but RJ beat me to it. My favorite is Gabby's against Manchester City on the opening day of the 08-09 season. The first match of a season always brings a natural sense of optimism, but on that day, it was backed up by something. Those were the days. Villa weren't terrible and watching them didn't fill you with dread most weeks. Ah well.

That's what we had to say and now we want to hear from you. What are some of your favorite Aston Villa hat tricks?