Andrew Considine celebrates his 30th Birthday on Saturday. He could not have got his Birthday weekend off to a better start. After scoring an incredible hat-trick in front of an ecstatic Red Army, the defender spoke to RedTV post-match:

“I never thought I would see the day when I am being called a hat-trick hero!

“I scored a brace in a couple of games over my career so far but to get a hat-trick is something special. I have done it in front of a packed away stand was fantastic. The support tonight was incredible.

“First and foremost, it was a great performance from the boys.

“I felt from the very start we were in their faces and played very well. We were also very clinical tonight, not just myself but all the scorers. The boys were fantastic.

“I should have had four tonight. I should have scored early on. Then from the first one I have managed to escape from my man and I knew that if I kept it low it was going in. The second one I managed to sneak in at the back post and the last one, Ash told me his header was going in! But I slid in and got the last touch and went through the keeper’s legs.

“The goals are for the wife and kids at home. They have to put up with me day in day out talking football. So it is for them.

“The main thing in the second half was to keep the intensity up which we did. We kept going to the final whistle with that intensity and have managed to score a few more goals.

“The manager said at half time there was still 45 minutes to go and he wanted us to keep a clean sheet. All credit to the boys, all of them, from the defenders to Adam up front. Everyone worked hard to get the clean sheet. They had a lot of corners but we were very solid.

“A fantastic night. Everyone was terrific.

“That is the way we have been playing in every game recently. The energy levels are incredible. It is has been a long season. We have been playing since June but the boys are looking as fresh as ever which is really really encouraging. Fingers crossed we can keep it going.

“The manager and coaching staff are good at working out when to make us work and when we should rest. They deserve a lot of credit for our fitness levels.

“We are not worrying about what other teams are doing. There is still a lot of football to be played. We will just concentrate on ourselves and we know focus on Tuesday night. The confidence is very high amongst all the players, the starting XI and those who came on.”

“We are not worrying about what other teams are doing. There is still a lot of football to be played. We will just concentrate on ourselves and we know focus on Tuesday night. The confidence is very high amongst all the players, the starting XI and those who came on.”