Colchester United midfielder Jack Payne admitted to a moment of selfishness after scoring his second hat-trick of the season.
The 30-year-old netted the first treble of his 13-year career against Chesterfield last October and contributed another in Saturday's 4-1 win over Barnet.
It also took his seasonal tally to 10 goals - only the second time he has managed that - and he has a minimum of 14 league games left to surpass the 13 he scored for Swindon in 2022.
Payne scored twice in the space of three minutes with the score 1-1 and then added his third in stoppage time despite team-mate John-Kymani Gordon being unmarked at the far post.
"Nine times out of 10 I'd probably square that for JK but being on a hat-trick, I thought I had to finish it," he told BBC Essex.
"I'm obviously feeling confident in that moment, the square (ball) was obviously on, but I also felt comfortable I was going to score and I put it in the back of the net."
Payne is now Colchester's joint top scorer for the season, alongside Kyreece Lisbie.
"From a personal point of view, to get to 10 goals is a really great feeling but we're not competing with each other, we want everyone to score," he said.
There was a glowing tribute to Payne following the final whistle from Barnet boss Dean Brennan, who described him as a "joy to watch" and said he would be happy to pay to watch him play.
"He led the group and he's got the quality; it's something that we've lacked all season," Brennan added.
Payne responded: "I've not heard the interview, but that's really nice to hear. I'm grateful for those sort of comments from someone I respect."
Colchester are 10th in League Two, four points adrift of the play-off places, but with two games in hand on Crewe and one on Chesterfield, who are sixth and seventh respectively.
They are next at home to Salford City on Saturday before meeting Chesterfield at the SMH Group Stadium in an evening kick-off on Tuesday, 3 March.