By James Barrett

Carshalton Athletic’s hat-trick hero Tommy Bradford said his side’s emphatic 3-0 win over Hampton & Richmond on Monday had been coming.

Striker Bradford, 18, is a product of the club’s youth academy and has firmly established himself as part as the first team squad since the turn of the year.

The Robins remain one point adrift at the foot of the Ryman Premier table, although the two teams directly above them have five games in hand.

Bradford said: “We can still survive if we perform like this moving forward and others around us keep struggling.

“We worked hard and got our reward. We’ve given good accounts of ourselves recently, when we came away with nothing, so it feels good to get a win like this.” The three goals, his first at senior level, included two within the first five minutes of the game. He said: “The boss [Tommy Williams] told me to play a bit further forward and I enjoyed it.

“I gambled on [Pelayo] Pico Gomez winning his header for the first one and was in the right place to turn it home.”

Despite his tender years, Bradford showed confidence to take a second-half penalty to complete his memorable day and finally put the game to bed.

“Nathaniel Pinney would have normally taken it, but he understood the circumstances,” Bradford said. “There was a bit of a wait while one of their guys got some treatment but I made up my mind, didn’t change it and stuck it right in the corner to beat the keeper.”

Carshalton now face tough games against two play-off contenders. Margate are the visitors to Colston Avenue on Saturday, before a trip to Lowestoft the weekend after.