Cureton's treble up

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But it also gave Southend a huge shove back down towards League One after two successive promotions in previous seasons.

"I couldn't get in Swindon's team last season, now I've scored 21 goals and I'm playing near the top of the Championship," said Cureton. "It just goes to show if you work hard and don't give up, something can happen."

It was the ninth hat-trick of 31-year-old Cureton's career that has taken him from Norwich, to his native Bristol Rovers, then QPR.

It looked like he was finished with league football when he took a new turning to Korea, but he returned and struggled with Swindon before getting a loan move than turned his career around.

It all went wrong for Southend at Roots Hill after just 37 seconds when defender Efe Sodje's attempted header went astray and Cureton lined up his shot inside the right post.

Cureton then notched his 20th goal of the season just after the hour mark, the first time it's been done by a Colchester player for 22 years. Richard Garcia unnerved the defence and Cureton swept the ball into the far right corner of the net.

He notched his hat-trick in the 79th minute with his sixth goal in three games.

Kevin Watson and Chris Barker set him up and he coolly clipped the ball into the right side of the net.