Sheffield Wednesday: Watch spine-tingling standing ovation for Saido Berahino after forward nets first Owls hat-trick

But the former West Brom man showed no signs of getting carried away and retained a laser focus on the job in hand; promotion from League One.

Star man Berahino unleashed six shots in the clash and even registered an assist for George Byers’ second half strike.

“It was a good day at the office for a striker,” he told swfc.co.uk. “I’m happy to be contributing with goals, but also the team is playing well, so we keep our good home run going and look forward to Tuesday.

“I stay behind and do a lot of extra finishing with the staff and the players, so it’s good I got the chance because last time I started at home I don’t think I got a shot at goal.

“Today I tried to get as many shots as I could off and found the back of the net, so I’m happy with that.”

The stellar outing means the Burundi international now has six goals and four assists in what has been a stop-start season. There is growing optimism he is entering form at just the right time.

“The early goal obviously settled us down and allowed us to play prettier football,” he continued. “It was important also to get a clean sheet, so we take all that into Tuesday’s game and move forward with confidence.”

“The spirit is high, we’re in a good space and we’re all channelling ourselves into one objective, which is to get into the Championship. If we can get into the second place then we will but we’ll take each game as it comes.”

He was replaced with 20 minutes to go by Sylla Sow and asked whether he enjoyed a standing ovation that saw Wednesday fans sing his name for the first time, he grinned from ear to ear.

“Of course,” he said. “I haven’t scored at home for a while. I was telling my little one today I wanted to score at home, he came here and it was important he saw me scoring. I hope he enjoyed all three goals.”