Peter Thorne added a seventh hat-trick ball to his personal stash and then promised: There's room for more yet.

Thorne's treble sunk Notts County as City enjoyed their biggest home league win for nearly three years.

The veteran striker doubled his scoring tally for the club in one game - and admitted he was desperate to make up for lost time.

Thorne said: "I'm not feeling sorry for myself but it's been hard because I've been out of football the last couple of years with the injuries. It took me a long time to start feeling right again.

"I've missed that many games that I need to start catching up - but I've got a decent record with hat-tricks during my career and hopefully I can get a couple more.

"I always get the balls signed and put them in my mum's cupboard. There's quite a few now but it's not full up."

Thorne, plagued by problems at Norwich, suffered a hip injury in pre-season and then damaged a rib against Accrington in October but, since recovering from that blow, he has started 11 of the last 12 games and netted six goals.

He said: "The gaffer kind of let me know I wasn't going to play all the games over the Christmas period because of my age and I'd missed quite a lot of early season.

"But I ended up playing them all and I think I've benefited from that. As the games have been coming along, I've just felt better and better."

Thorne also heaped praise on strike partner Barry Conlon after the pair made it two wins from two starts together.

He said: "It makes a difference playing up front with someone like that who's quite big and physical. It takes a lot of pressure off me.

"It's only been a couple of games and nobody's getting carried away but I really enjoy it and so does Baz and we think it can work.

"We got a good win on New Year's Day and then followed it up. Now I'm looking at the fixtures coming up and thinking they are all games in which we've got a good chance.

"It's all about getting a little run going and see where that takes us."

  • Start or join a debate on this issue in our online forum - Click here