Star Tracker winner...
Craig Malcolm collected the East Kilbride News Player of the Year prize last week to cap a memorable season for the Stranraer striker.
Although the Blues struggled in League One this season after just missing out on promotion to the Championship last term, it was a great season for Malcolm individually.
The 29-year-old, from Gardenhall, scored his 100th goal for Stranraer this season to become the club’s second-top goalscorer of all time.
He’s now on 104 goals behind record holder Jim Campbell’s tally of 136 and Malcolm’s season just got that little bit better after he was crowned East Kilbride’s top player in the senior ranks this season.
After scoring 13 league goals and 18 in all competitions, Malcolm topped our Star Tracker standings on 111 points, leaving nearest rival Chris Erskine over 40 points behind.
And as he collected his £100 EK East Kilbride gift card prize in the town centre last week, Malcolm told the News:“It’s been a special season for me individually, getting my 100th goal for Stranraer and my 250th appearance there in the last game of the season.
“Scoring 100 goals for them is something I will never forget and I’m really proud to be only the second person ever to do that for Stranraer.
“It’s been very disappointing season for the team though.
“We had a bad start to the season, but since the end
of January we’ve done really well to keep ourselves in the division.
“Goals-wise it’s been a another good season for me. I’ve managed to get 18 overall but I’ve not been overly happy with my performances in most of the games. “I want to improve for next season.” Malcolm is tempted to hang around at Stair Park next season as he chases the all-time goalscoring record.
However, the father-of-one has another child on the way with girlfriend Helen and admits he will have to put his family first when it comes to where he plays his football next season.
Malcolm, who has spent six years with Stranraer over two spells, added: “Hopefully if I stay at Stranraer next season I can go on to break that record.
“I’ve got a wee bit to go and we’d need to have a good season to get the number of goals needed (32).
“But that does makes me want to hang on a bit more.
“It would be a great achievement, but I’ll need to weigh up my options.
“It’s that time of year where you need to take a couple of weeks to think about things and see what’s best for me and my family.
“My girlfriend is pregnant, so we’ve got another kid due in November. “I’ll need to take that into consideration as well.” Asked what he intends to do with his prize, he said: “I think I’ll probably bring my wee boy Aiden down and let him get something and I’ll see if there’s anything left after that!”