We’ve seen it all before? Sure we have - one man spearheading the club’s battle against the drop with vital goals, no big deal.
In the near renowned Great Escape campaign of 2001/02, after Bill Dearden had stepped into the driving seat of a team placed 23rd by January, it was the goals of Super Danny Allsopp - now with none other than the mighty Hull City - that helped book a place in the Second Division once more after weighing-in with a phenomenal ** goals.
Last season, and former Notts legend, Mark Stallard – another mover rather than shaker after joining Barnsley last month – bulged the net on no-less than 24 occasions to help secure the club’s Second Division safety.
His goals providing a great deal of false hope for Magpies fans who were, although they knew little about it, again set to be eye-balling another relegation battle.
And despite losing Stallard half-way through the campaign, the 2003/04 season has seen the uprising of a man who beforehand had somewhat waited
in the shadows of Allsopp and Stallard, namely Paul Heffernan, to fore-fronting the revival of Notts County and being hailed as the new hero of Meadow Lane after yesterday bagging his fifteenth of the campaign – goals which have earned 10 of the club’s 31 points this season.
The cleverly name Heff (yeah, right!) has only had one genuine contender this season for the top ‘scorer post at the ‘Lane – that being Mark Stallard [four] who, as we know, has since been moved on to the Oakwell.
But behind the nineteen goal duo, only Andy Parkinson, Clive Platt and Paul Riley have made any sort of impact on the goal-scoring charts each grabbing three-a-piece.
And, not surprisingly, when Stallard, Platt and Parkinson had all left the club, it was hard to see where the goals, bar Paul Heffernan, were going to come.
And this is never more evident than at the other end of the club’s roll of scorer’s honours where Ian Richardson and Darren Caskey both have just two goals to their names with Bolland, Baldry, Barras and most recently, Scully all with just the single goal.
However, I stand to be corrected.