Luke Williams said Macaulay Langstaff is “adored” at Notts County after League Two’s leading scorer hit a first-half hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Morecambe.

The Magpies have bounced back from a four-match losing run by scoring eight goals without reply in wins over Doncaster and the Shrimps since Christmas, Langstaff with four of them.

And Williams said: “He is adored because imagine you are playing, and you are desperate to win, and you look around and you see Macca and you think ‘well, we definitely have a chance to win because Macca’s going to score’.

“But then if that guy is going to run for team, like he kills himself every week – running, tackling and now playing in three different positions like he has played there his whole career – and then you spend time with him and he is just the best guy as well, he is a really special guy.”

Despite the triumph, Williams was complimentary of the opposition.

“I think they are a good team,” he said. “I know that can sound unfair to say that after the 5-0 but they are, because we have played there before and they should have won the game in the last moments.

“We knew that they were a good team but we performed well and made it very difficult for them to show their qualities.”

Morecambe boss Ged Brennan was equally complimentary of County.

“You have to give them credit, they were outstanding today,” he said.

“We were not at our best and they were at their best but if you are playing against a team with a budget like they have got, whilst we have one of the smallest, it is going to show and that is what it looked like tonight.

“We will go again on Monday, and we will fight for every point from now on and we will try to do the best that we can.

“They had quality all over the pitch tonight. The lad who scored the hat-trick, his movement was absolutely unbelievable and never had to even break sweat tonight. He got three goals but could have got four or five.

“As I say, when you have a lot of quality like that, you are going to get a lot of goals aren’t you?”

Up next for County is a trip to Tranmere on New Year’s Day, where a win could move them within a point of the automatic promotion places. Morecambe will seek a swift response and a return to winning ways against Harrogate.