Notts County midfielder Jim O’Brien hopes his stunning hat-trick against Maidenhead will go somewhere to silencing his doubters.
O’Brien struck his first goals of the season in the 4-0 win which kept the Magpies on track for a National League play-off place.
After the game, the Scot said the hat-trick was as big a surprise to him as anyone.
“I’ve never even scored a hat-trick in the garden with my six-year-old,” he joked.
“I didn’t really want to score the third one because I didn’t want to stand here [doing an interview over Zoom] looking as if we’re playing Call of Duty!
“It’s not really for me, the old interviews, but we played well and applied ourselves properly.
“We stuck to the game plan, we trusted it. It was a good all round performance.
“I was dying for a goal, I’d not scored this season, and then three come along at once. It’s a nice feeling but it’s just another three points."
In a candid interview, the 33-year-old revealed he had been hurt by recent criticism aimed at him on social media.
“The way I’ve been feeling recently, maybe a little bit down, you see some things, [people saying] his legs have gone when things aren’t going well," he explained.
“To put a couple of doubters wrong is a nice feeling as well.
“They know who they are, it’s not a nice thing to see when you know you’re working hard and your numbers are good.
“That’s football and sometimes it goes that way when things aren’t going well.”
On how he deals with criticism, O’Brien added: “Training hard every day, enjoying my work and switching off away from football.
“Anyone’s going to be affected by it and there was a lot of negativity a few weeks ago but we’ve turned that round and are now going in the right direction.”
Fifth-placed Notts will look to strengthen their place in the play-offs when they host Bromley on Saturday.
