Leatherhead’s Matt Francis admits he has targeted double figures for the season after his four-goal salvo dismantled Whitstable Town last weekend.

Francis was at the forefront as the Tanners ran riot to the tune of 7-1 against the Ryman Division One South strugglers.

And the midfielder, who now has seven goals this campaign, revealed goalscoring has never previously been his forte.

Francis said: “If I’m honest I don’t know where that came from.

“When I was at Merstham last year I got two goals in the whole season, so to get four in a game is ridiculous really.

“I think it was just a case of being in the right place at the right time - the ball seemed to keep landing at my feet and I stuck them away.

“The workrate of the side was unbelievable and I cannot praise Tommy Hutchings enough - he ran all day and let me take the penalty that gave me my hat-trick.”

Marc Elston, Jon Coke and Mark Simmons also netted as Mick Sullivan’s men made it four wins out of five.

And Francis, who followed Sullivan to Fetcham Grove after leaving Merstham, reckons it is all down to the boss finally getting his point across.

He added: “The team spirit here is pretty special at the moment.

“A real group mentality seems to have formed and there is a real togetherness.

“Mick has been taking the players out on social evenings and everyone has bonded.

“We have started playing 4-3-3 and we seem to be getting the results.

“I think we have to just take it one game at a time - the play-offs are probably unlikely but we have to keep trying.

“I have set myself a target of 10 goals now for the season and if I can do that, and we keep moving up the table, then it will have been a good season for us.”

Leatherhead’s next three matches: Feb 13 Burgess Hill Town (a), 16 Worthing (a), 20 Walton & Hersham (h)