Carshalton Athletic finally broke into the Bostik Premier play-off mix this week after a thumping win over visiting Wingate and Finchley, writes James Barrett-Sterling.

The Robins, who won the Bostik South last season with a whopping 102 points, shrugged off a first defeat in 13 matches last week to smash Wingate 5-1 with Ricky Korboa helping himself to a hat-trick.

That result, coupled with other clubs around them dropping points, now means Carshalton sit fifth with just four games to play.

And the 21-year old, who is now the club’s current top goalscorer this season, was more than pleased with both his and his teammates’ response to losing that long unbeaten run recently.

“We really weren’t at our best last week and we had to put that right,” said Korboa who now has 12 goals to his name.

“We turned it on against Wingate and gave our fans a better performance. We know we can play like that regularly and we have to now as we are in the play-offs.”

It was a slow start at Colston Avenue last Saturday but Carshalton eventually went in front when Harry Ottaway powerfully headed home a corner on 25 minutes.

The striker turned provider just before the break and his lovely through ball from inside his own half set Korboa away to score his first of the afternoon.

And Ottaway was at it again just after the hour as his low cross was turned into his own net by the unfortunate Alieu Njie.

Wingate’s Anthony Mendy stunned the home fans by scoring with his side’s first shot on target on 64 minutes, but Carshalton didn’t wobble and Korboa took centre stage.

He restored the three-goal advantage on 70 minutes as he broke the visitors’ offside trap before finishing low into the bottom corner.

And he wrapped up his and Carshalton’s afternoon late on by curling home a stunning third in from 18 yards.

“I really enjoyed the third goal but I think my first one was my favourite,” Korboa smiled.

“I had to make up a lot of ground on the last defender, got to the ball first before managing to beat the keeper.

Next up for Carshalton is a trip to Enfield Town on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) and Korboa knows exactly what needs to happen moving forwards.

“We were disappointed to concede a goal on Saturday but overall we played really well. We need to keep focussed and keep winning now we are in the play-offs, it’s in our hands now,” he added.