Kurtis Guthrie has set his sights on firing Colchester United to automatic promotion after bagging his first-ever Football League hat-trick.

Guthrie proudly walked off with the match ball after hitting the net three times in the U’s impressive 4-1 thrashing of third-placed Carlisle United.

It was a result that lifted John McGreal’s in-form side into the play-off places in League Two.

After enjoying a memorable day against the Cumbrians, where Colchester secured a fifth straight win to move up to sixth in the table, striker Guthrie is now setting his sights high.

Guthrie said: “The promotion spots are what we’re pushing for now.

“We’re in the play-off places now but now we have to set new goals and one of those is to finish in the top three.

“We want to think positively and hopefully it will come off for us.

“Football is a funny old game – a month ago we were nowhere to be seen but we’ve got our heads down, we’ve tightened up where we’ve needed to and now look at us.

“We can’t rest on our laurels - we’re going to make sure that we don’t have another blip and keep pushing for those spots.”

Guthrie is in red-hot scoring form for Colchester, having netted seven times in his last nine matches for them.

The 23-year-old says he was delighted to score a hat-trick, the first U’s player to do so in the league since Jamie Cureton against Southend United in the 2006-07 season.

Former Forest Green Rovers player Guthrie said: “It was my first Football League hat-trick and I’m very happy with that, “It was a special moment and you have to savour the day, which I will, and go again on Monday.

“I thought I’d missed my chance when my shot hit the bar and I thought it might not be my day.

“But I kept grinding away and was able to get it in the end, so I’m pleased.

“It was a great game and I can imagine for the neutral, it was an entertaining game with some good football played by both teams and we had to grind and dig in at the same time at some points.

“I feel good – I’m getting consecutive games up front now and I’m able to find the back of the net.

“We can mix up our style of play and I’m showing I have a wide range of play as well.

“ I’m in good form and I’m just going to keep working hard on the training pitch and hopefully it keeps going.”