IT’S ALL IN VAIN FOR GOAL ACES
IT’S a season which for many won’t appear in the history books but try telling that to the strikers on course for a Golden Boot.
Joe Taylor had scored 32 goals in all competitions when the Isthmian Premier was declared null and void – and had time on his side in the race for the magic 40.
The 28-year-old was playing the best football of his career in a Cray Wanderers team set for the highest league finish in the club’s 160-year history.
But his haul is now set to be expunged along with the Wands’ record of 64 points from 33 games – numbers which had them sitting second in the table.
Taylor said: “I must have done ten seasons in Non-League and I’ve always scored goals but this season felt like all the hard graft when I was younger, being 17th man, had paid off.
“I was five goals clear at the top of the goalscoring charts and Cray had just tweeted about a record I broke: the most league goals scored in a campaign at this level.
“I told my mates about it a few weeks ago and they’ve all been writing to me now like ‘there’s your record gone!’”
This season had also been a long time coming for Dartford’s Darren McQueen.
He burst onto the scene at Ebbsfleet three years ago, scoring the goals which clinched their promotion to the National League, before a knee injury set him back massively.
But his mojo was well and truly back in National League South, where his 17 league goals saw him tied with Havant’s Jonah Ayunga at the top of the charts.
said: “It’s gutting but I can’t do anything about it. It might be wiped off but I know I put the work in to get those goals so I’m not going to forget them.
Flourished
“People will have seen it as well. Even if the league is wiped off, people still know who was doing well and who was top of the goalscoring charts.
“This is definitely the closest
I’ve been to where I was (before the injury).
“Since Steve King’s come in, I’ve flourished under his management. The way he wants us to play suits me down to a tee so I can’t complain.”
Taylor is also philosophical. “Cray’s highest ever league finish at this level was seventh and that was something the manager talked to us about,” he adds.
“We were flying and momentum around the club was masMcQueen sive so it was a kick in the teeth when it came but health takes priority over football.
“I’ll look back at this season and be really happy with my numbers: six goals in the FA Cup and 26 in the league.
“I finished second in a league goalscoring chart to Ian Draycott a few years back but I’ve never won it so that was a target of mine this year.
“I don’t know what happens now, whether they still award Golden Boots or not but I’ll look back on this season as my season.
“The club and myself will look back with pride still, knowing what we did and it stands us in really good stead going forward.
“The club is in a good place. They’ve got the new stadium which is a year or two away and that’s really exciting.
“Tony Russell and Joe Vines are a great management team and Cray are doing everything right in terms of the players they’re recruiting. This season has been really enjoyable.”