Diogo Jota hailed his special treble after he scored Wolves’ first top flight hat-trick for 42 years.

The forward’s injury-time strike sealed a pulsating 4-3 win over Leicester at Molineux on Saturday.

The 22-year-old became the first Wolves player since John Richards in 1977 – also against Leicester – to score a treble in the top flight.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City – Premier League – Molineux
Diogo Jota celebrates scoring Wolves’ third goal against Leicester (Mike Egerton/PA)

Jota told the club’s official site: “It’s really special, a hat-trick, I know it’s not happened in a long time. This is the second of my career, so it’s like giving your team the win, it feels very good.

“This is the kind of game I watched as a kid and now being part of it is a good moment for me. In the end, when we win it is the best feeling in the world.

“It was a very open game, this amount of goals is normal in a game like this, we could have done better, we could have not conceded after leading twice, this is football.

“We have to analyse it, we were winning twice, one of them by two goals so it shouldn’t happen. In the end we win so we’re happy.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City – Premier League – Molineux
Ryan Bennett got Wolves’ other goal against Leicester (Mike Egerton/PA)

Jota has five goals this season with all of them coming in his last six outings.

He opened the scoring before Ryan Bennett doubled the lead after 12 minutes.

Leicester recovered immediately after the break through Demarai Gray’s strike and Conor Coady’s own goal.

Jota restored Wolves’ lead only for Wes Morgan to head in with three minutes left to make it 3-3.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City – Premier League – Molineux
Wes Morgan levelled the score at 3-3 (Mike Egerton/PA)

But Jota tapped in Raul Jimenez’s cross to win it in stoppage time and boss Nuno Espirito Santo was sent off after joining in his players’ celebrations on the pitch.

Leicester manager Claude Puel was left with his head in his hands after a third straight defeat with Wolves leapfrogging the Foxes into eighth.

The Frenchman, under pressure from some fans, criticised his side for blowing the chance for a point.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City – Premier League – Molineux
The late drama was hard to take for Claude Puel (Mike Egerton/PA)

He said: “We were naive. I hope we can learn, it was important to run the clock down. Now it’s difficult, we have a different feeling, negative.

“It’s a big shame, with the quality we can show, to lose all these points.

“It was a crazy game. We didn’t manage the end of the game with the right attitude.”