Jermaine Beckford emphatically rediscovered the goal-scoring touch for Leicester City as his hat-trick inspired a 4-0 thumping of neighbours Nottingham Forest in their FA Cup with Budweiser third round replay.

Already trailing to an early own-goal from George Boateng, Steve Cotterill's struggling Reds were destroyed by City's summer signing from Everton, whose clinical treble in a 27-minute spell either side of half-time completed a humiliating night for City's East Midlands rivals.

It was a much-improved performance from Nigel Pearson's Foxes, beaten 2-1 at home by Barnsley in the league on Saturday, as they booked a fourth round date with League 2 Swindon Town on Saturday week.

And for the talented Beckford, so often frustrated in the early days of his City career, this was potentially a watershed moment. As industrious as he was clinical throughout the night, he ended a run of ten games without a goal and his replacement 11 minutes from time brought a deserved standing ovation from the Blue Army.

It perhaps should be no surprise that the FA Cup brought the best out in the former Leeds United striker, remembered most fondly at Elland Road for a fabled winner at Old Trafford at this very stage of the competition two years ago. Not to mention a double at Spurs in the following round.

Beckford looks on as Boateng scores an own goal.

Brought back into the side along with the impressive Sean St. Ledger, Beckford looked hungry from the earliest stages, chasing down defenders and lost causes as if his life depended on it, and to rich reward. It was his hard work to dispossess Joel Lynch on seven minutes that won the corner from which City took the lead.

Paul Gallagher's initial delivery was cleared by the Forest defence, already creaking from a Neil Danns shot cleared off the line by Guy Moussi in the second minute. Lloyd Dyer retrieved it, drove past his marker and produced a delivery Boateng just couldn't deal with.

It was the perfect start for City and the worst possible for Forest. That said, the visitors should have responded. Just four minutes passed before former Foxes loanee Greg Cunningham crossed from the left, Kasper Schmeichel parried and Robbie Findley somehow sent a volley over from no more than a yard out. It was a miss that will haunt the American.

City celebrate their sixth minute opener.

Beckford was less forgiving on the half-hour. A Forest corner was brought clear by the breaking David Nugent, who worked the ball right via Danns to the marauding Lee Peltier. The cross was so good, Lee Camp could only parry it but, with Moussi recovering on the line, Beckford's header was a far-from-simple one. He beat the retreating Frenchman to score via the underside of the bar.

Beckford's clinical finish looked even better eight minutes later when Marlon Harewood side-footed wastefully wide from Findley's low centre. Forest continued to toil as Findley sent a free header from Andy Reid's free-kick straight at Schmeichel.

City, by contrast, looked razor sharp in attack and only Moussi denied them a third on the stroke of half-time - blocking Gallagher's goal-bound shot after an impressive Beckford-Nugent combination.

Sean St. Ledger impressed back in the Foxes defence.

Cotterill made changes at the break, bringing on Lewis McGugan and David McGoldrick, but the impact was minimal. Beckford cleverly dinked a second five minutes after the restart when Moussi hopelessly tried to clear a Nugent flick-on.

To their credit, the Forest fans kept singing, but their team were giving them little to sing about as they were torn apart once more just before the hour. Richie Wellens showed a strong arm to Reid before sliding in Beckford, whose first shot was saved by Camp but he would not be denied on the rebound.

He held his arms to the sky, revelling in the applause. It's a sight City fans will pray to see more of in the coming months.

Neil Danns puts his head in to beat Paul Anderson.

Forest, heads spinning, tried in vain to reduce the arrears but never managed to stretch Schmeichel. St. Ledger and captain Matt Mills were commanding ahead of their Danish keeper, while Danns and Richie Wellens dominated the midfield.

Camp, on the other hand, had to block from Danns before Gallagher whipped a shot a lick of paint over the crossbar and Peltier pushed one wide after a neat exchange with Beckford.

But the lasting impression of the night will have been that reception for the man of the match 11 minutes from the end. He enjoyed every second of it, along with the departing congratulations of his team-mates, clearly thrilled to see him back to his brilliant best.

Apparently he'd been struggling with flu all day and his discomfort on the bench appeared to support that. Heaven knows what damage he would have done to Forest in clean health.

City (4-4-2): Schmeichel; Peltier, Mills (c), St. Ledger, Konchesky; Gallagher, Danns, Wellens, Dyer (Kennedy 80); Nugent, Beckford (Howard 79).

Unused subs: Weale, Abe, Tunchev, Taft.

Goals: Boateng og 7, Beckford 30, 50, 57.

Forest (4-4-1-1): Camp (c); Gunter, Moussi, Lynch, Cunningham; Findley, Boateng (McGugan 46), Greening (McGoldrick 46), Anderson; Reid; Harewood (Blackstock 81).

Unused subs: Smith, Majewski, Derbyshire, McCleary.

Booked: Reid

Attendance: 16,210 (1,651 away)

Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)