‘I couldn’t let Blu outscore me ...!’

... now Baffins’ history-maker targets 125-goal milestone

Striker Jason Parish is eyeing up even more Baffins Milton Rovers milestones after reaching a century of goals for the club.

Parish's double in the Wessex League Premier Division win over Portland last weekend took his scoring tally to 101 strikes in 149 games.

The 30-year-old, who was persuaded to reoin the club from Bognor last month, says a big reason behind moving back to the PMC Stadium was becoming the club's leading scorer.

Parish's friend, Blu Boam, was Baffins’ previous alltime top scorer with 100 goals - a milestone he reached in the last game of the 2020/21 campaign in December.

But now the former Bognor and AFC Portchester front man has surpassed that tally, he is hungry to put even more distance between himself and Boam, now at US Portsmouth, in the years ahead.

Parish said: ‘It was part of the reason (scoring record) I went back to Baffins, really.

‘One of my mates, Blu, obviously we were there when it all started and he was the top goalscorer over there. I thought I couldn’t stop playing with him being top goalscorer so it was one of the reasons I wanted to go back.

‘It’s really now a case of seeing how many I get before I stop playing because I’m getting a little bit older now.

‘It’s 125 next, hopefully I’ll get that this year, if I can get past that then that’ll be great.

‘As a striker, in the Wessex League, you want to be hitting 25 goals if you’re playing every week.

‘It’s 25 for this year is what I’m aiming for and if I can go past that it’ll be brilliant.’

Parish was part of the initial Baffins Milton Rovers squad when the club was formed in 2011.

He was a key part in their rise through the divisions to reach Wessex Premier level.

The prolific striker did briefly move to AFC Portchester, netting 10 times in 17 appearances in the Covid-19 shortened 2019-20 season.

Parish was then at Isthmian League Premier Division Bognor for what proved to be an even more condensed campaign last term.

But he was always drawn to returning to where it all began for him one day.

Parish said: ‘I love it at Baffins. I live in Baffins, it’s literally five minutes away from me. I was there when it all started. We started it with a big group of mates and I always looked out for how they do.

‘Obviously coming back into the Wessex, I did have a few calls, but it was more of a decision about enjoyment, for me, and I’ve got a family so it was nice and easy.

‘I really like it there, it’s sort of my club, if you know what I mean.

‘I was at Portchy before that (Bognor spell), I did quite well there, then moved to Bognor.

‘The thing with Covid last year it sort of broke the season up. I had an injury in pre-season, found it hard to get back into the team, then Covid hit.

‘This pre-season, to be fair to Jack (Pearce, Bognor boss) and Blakey (Robbie Blake, assistant manager), they told me I wasn’t going to be playing week-in, weekout.

‘At my age, you can’t really afford to not be playing. If I was 21 or 22 I might have put up with it and tried to break into the team. I haven’t really got time to be sitting on the bench.’

Parish has netted four goals in as many games since returning to Baffins.

Rovers have won four of their opening five league matches, remaining unbeaten, and are two points off the leaders Brockenhurst in third with two games in hand.

But Parish is not getting too carried away just yet, highlighting the fact Baffins' start has not been the 'toughest'.

He said: ‘If I’m completely honest, we’ve not had a difficult run yet, we’ve not played the top teams - we’ve been lucky with that.

‘It’s given us a bit of time to find our form, especially with me where I didn’t get a pre-season here, it’s understanding how the lads play and how I’m going to get my chances.

‘I don’t really think too far ahead, that’s down to the manager and chairman to think where we’re going to end up. I feel we’re on a bit of a run, we’ve got really good team spirit and we feel like every game we can win.

‘We’ll just take it game by game, keep winning, then see where we are by Christmas.’

We’ve not had a difficult run yet ... it’s given us a bit of time to find our form

Jason Parish