Rickie Lambert was thrilled to get his first hat-trick for Saints in the 3-0 win over MK Dons.
The prolific front man found the back of the net with three efforts that all showed a different side to the Liverpudlian's game. The first came from a brave header, the second from the penalty spot, and the last, out of this world!
"It means a lot," he smiled. "You don't score many hat-tricks in your career so I treasure each one that I score, and to get my first one for Southampton is brilliant.
"I wasn't feeling the best today actually. I felt fine physically obviously, but I didn't think that I'd had the best of games and it's weird, sometimes you can be on top of your form and not even get a shot in, but it was one of those days for me where I hit the back of the net and I'm just thankful for that.
"It's the first time I've ever scored thirty in a season so it's going well for me and hopefully there's some more to come."
Goal 28 for the campaign got the ball rolling at stadium:mk which broke the deadlock on a keenly contested game.
"It was a great time to score," he explained. "We obviously tried in the first half, but it was a bit of a dire game if I'm honest and then I think that first goal swung our momentum, so it was the most important.
"For the second, he (José Fonte) did very well. Some great skill in the corner to cut inside and showed determination before getting the pen so it's a big thank you to José."
The goal which sealed the three goal haul is one that even his manager had predicted for some time, whilst Rickie also had a feeling that he had a good opportunity to net from distance in this game.
"It's nice that he (Alan Pardew) has got confidence in me. I've tried it a few times this season and got nowhere near that so it's nice to see one of them finally go into the back of the net. I had an idea before the game that he would come off his line so I had an inkling that if I had a chance I would hit it early and it bounced up perfectly, so I thought why not!?"
It was a finish which would have graced any stage, and the goal went some way towards Pardew's comments about Lambert being a potential figure in Saints folklore alongside the likes of Mick Channon and Kevin Keegan.
"It's brilliant for the manager to say that. It just shows you how much confidence he's got in me. I'll be made up if I can get anywhere near those kind of players.
"I just want to concentrate on my own game and try and improve on every aspect of it."
Lambert added his sorrow for Wayne Thomas, who has torn a calf muscle which will rule him out of next weekend's Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final at Wembley.
"Thommo's been instrumental in the JPT he's been brilliant and scored a couple of goals to help us get there. It's a shame because every player wants to play at Wembley so I'm gutted for him.
"It's a big game, but we won't be thinking about Carlisle until after Tuesday night when that game's finished and then we can talk about it."
