Chris Beech said hat-trick hero Nathan Thomas scored one of the best goals he has ever seen in Carlisle United’s superb win at Forest Green.

Thomas’s second goal, a brilliant 30-yard effort, was the highlight of the Blues’ 4-1 win at the New Lawn.

It made Thomas the first hat-trick scorer for Carlisle since Charlie Wyke against Mansfield in November 2016.

For the previous treble scorer in an away game you have to go further back, to December 2015, when Wyke also grabbed three in the FA Cup at Welling.

In the league, meanwhile, Carlisle’s previous away hat-trick scorer was Gary Madine against Hartlepool as long ago as September 2010.

Head coach Beech insisted Thomas did not even produce his best display in the 4-1 victory – but couldn’t argue with his scoring prowess against Mark Cooper’s side at the New Lawn, where the Sheffield United loanee has scored six times in three visits.

Beech said: “He can be better, he’s played better for me, but he scored goals – he likes playing here.

“That goal you saw [Thomas’s second] was one of the best goals I’ve seen in my life.

“In terms of how the ball moved, left to right, it was about three yards wide of the goal, then swerved back in.

“It’s the best strike I’ve ever seen….amazing. On the Sky cameras, you can see every raindrop and it would have looked brilliant. Of course we don’t work at those levels. But that goal was a world-class goal.”

Thomas scored twice in three first-half minutes, one from close range before his spectacular second.

He then took penalties duties from Jack Bridge in order to complete his hat-trick in the first minute of the second half, after Lewis Alessandra had been fouled.

It helped United achieve back-to-back league wins for the first time in 12 months, Joshua Kayode also marking his full league debut with his first Football League goal, and Beech said the win should be dedicated to the 97 travelling supporters who made the long trip to the New Lawn.

He said: “I’m really pleased for everybody attached to the football club. I’m really pleased for the players, putting the efforts in, getting the deserved win, and I’m really pleased for the supporters who’ve travelled to watch us play.

“To come all this way on a Tuesday night, and see Carlisle score four goals…

“Every single goal was excellent, Nathan’s hat-trick, and for Josh [Kayode] to get his first Football League goal, I’m really pleased for him and for the fans to see that.

“There is more structure to the team, we are winning the ball back higher, all the things I’ve been saying for the last eight to 10 weeks.

“I’m really pleased for the club and the people who support it. Supporters want to see the club do well, the guys who’ve travelled all this way to watch us here…if I was Nathan I’d be dedicating that hat-trick to them.

“We’ve got to continue this hard work and keep working to get better.”

Beech was pleased with Kayode’s impact, saying the Rotherham loanee was very effective once he grew into the game.

He said: “The one thing that League Two centre-halves don’t like doing – and ours are quite good at it, actually – is running.

“He [Kayode] has got to play to his strengths, which is movement and running.

“He did it at Oldham for the first 10 minutes, [Carl] Piergianni and [David] Wheater had him, but after 10 minutes there he started freeing up and running.

“If he runs he will cause problems. He got to grips with it here, started running and was excellent.”

He added: “His mum and dad are away at the moment, that’s his league debut starting a match, and he scores a goal. I’m so pleased for him.”

Beech said he had had “hard” conversations before the game with the two players he left out from Saturday’s side, Ryan Loft and Stefan Scougall, having replaced them with Kayode and Bridge.

He added: “I have to protect our honour, our way, our winning way.

“I looked at the games where we’ve played possession-based teams that have beat us, Crewe, Colchester, Plymouth. Forest Green are one of them. We did well in the cup against them in horrendous conditions at Carlisle but I knew this game would be different.

“I had to look at who was available, how it would work, sell it to the boys and they have to have an understanding of why they’re not playing and not sulk.

“I was pleased. Scougall came on and showed excellent endeavour.”

Kayode was joined up front by Alessandra who produced another effective display in his second Carlisle appearance.

Beech said: “He [Alessandra] works hard, makes good football decisions, he’s intelligent.

“I asked for energy, but there’s a thing [I worked on] when I started coaching, I call it intelligent energy – it’s ok running around but you’ve got to use your brain with it.

“Lewi is a good example of that, especially at his age. He’s like a fine wine; he’s 30, he knows football, knows the emotion of the game, and technically within it he’s excellent.”

The win took Carlisle 10 points clear of the relegation place and Beech said he was delighted they had achieved successive wins.

He said: “I’m just happy the boys have repeated something. [It’s over a year] since they’ve won back-to-back games in the league.

“When we got our first league victory [since I arrived] I did challenge the lads to do that. Harry McKirdy was like, ‘We’ve done it before, gaffer’ but it was a cup match and a league fixture, Dulwich and Macclesfield.

“I said, come on, let’s get some real top wins in the league. The last two games have represented that.”