Carshalton Athletic forward Mickel Miller took the plaudits as his hat-trick helped his side continue their assault on the Ryman South play-offs.

His three goals, including one penalty, contributed to a 4-1 win over visiting Herne Bay last Saturday and took Miller’s personal tally to 18 for the season.

And the three points sent the Robins back up into fifth with five games left to play, although sixth-placed Hastings United are only a point behind with a game in hand.

“We needed that as we’ve gone through a rough patch over the past couple of weeks, but that’s now two wins in a row and we're back to scoring goals and winning games,” said Miller.

On a blustery afternoon against a Herne Bay side seemingly happy to contain their hosts, it took Carshalton almost half an hour to open the scoring – Miller squeezing home the spot-kick after Darnell Weise handled in his own area.

And Miller scored again before the break as, following a blistering run and pass by Kingsley Aikhionbare, he blasted a shot into the roof for the net from 18 yards.

The visitors used the windy conditions to their advantage after half-time as, after several high balls knocked into the Carshalton box, Mark Lovell managed to head a lofted free kick in just after the hour mark.

But the Robins didn’t allow that to set them back and Miller cheekily dinked his third goal of the afternoon in on 79 minutes to effectively end the match as a contest.

“I spoke to Tommy (Bradford) about taking the penalty and I felt confident, I thought let’s just hit it and thankfully it went in,” Miller smiled.

“I like getting a mixture of goals, I haven’t scored a dink in a while but it felt great to get a hat-trick and help the team to another three points.”

Substitute Omari Hibbert, whom only arrived at Colston Avenue two weeks ago, added the gloss in the final minute with a fine individual effort and Carshalton’s next task in their promotion-chasing is a trip to struggling Guernsey.

“I was pleased for Omari as he’s been digging at himself for missing a couple of chances last week,” added Miller.

“But I’m looking forward to going to Guernsey, they get big crowds, the stadium is good and hopefully the pitch will be nice. We just need to go there, play to our best and hopefully leave with a result.”

All the goals and other selected highlights from Carshalton vs Herne Bay can be viewed via robins.tv.

Guernsey vs Carshalton Athletic is on Sunday 2nd April (kick-off 2pm).