Lee Cook was delighted to score the first hat-trick of his career on Monday to help the Barnet beat Dartford 4-0 at The Hive and move up to second in the Vanarama Conference table.

Speaking after the game, whilst proudly holding the match ball signed by all of his teammates under his arm, Barnet’s summer signing said:

“I enjoyed it. I’ve never scored a hat-trick before so I’m very pleased. It was another great result for us.

“When I woke up this morning and saw that the weather was coming down quite heavy I actually thought that that would suit us because once the pitch is slick and wet we can pass the ball better so I thought that it worked in our favour a little bit.

“Once we got the ball passing and knocking it about they couldn’t really deal with us and I think that a lot of teams are going to struggle when they come here once we start passing it around like that.

“We’re scoring plenty of goals and keeping it tight at the back so everything is falling into place at the minute. All in all it has been a good Bank Holiday for us with the two wins.”

The winger was only introduced at half-time having been given a rest by Martin Allen following Saturday’s 2-0 win over Nuneaton, and said that he felt the benefit as he notched three goals during an impressive cameo:

“For me, two games in three days is a little bit difficult for me at this stage of the season. We had a little talk about it and I think it worked.

“I felt a lot fresher coming off the bench for the second half and I am going to feel better next Saturday now.

“Certain players got rested at certain times. Charlie has come off today so he will be nice and fresh for the weekend, so he has managed the team well over the two games.”

Cook scored his first just three minutes after coming on, and picked that goal out as favourite in a memorable hat-trick:

“The first one was especially pleasing because it was bouncing a bit so I had to catch it on the half-volley and keep it low. I wanted to keep them low as their keeper was a bit of a lump so found it a bit difficult to get down.

“The second one was quite a casual finish and the penalty was nice in the side netting so I’m really pleased.

“These days if you are getting forward in those positions and coming in off the line then that is where you are going to be getting goals. In this modern day of football you are encouraged to do that a bit more so hopefully I get a few more this year.”

Having already notched five goals in his first five appearances for the Bees, the experienced winger is refusing to rest on his laurels and is now looking to boost his assists tally as well as the Bees look to continue their good form:

“I always seem to get double figures assist-wise so I am going to be aiming to do that again.

“I’ve only got one assist this year but as long as the goals are coming it does not matter where they are coming from. The defence is doing their bit and as long as they are doing their bit we are going to score with the quality that we have got.”