DURING the summer weeks we will be featuring the top 100 Non-League goalscorers and the most successful twin strikers within the top six competitions.
Goals are goals and this feature will encompass all means of finding the net with hat-trick heroes and penalty kings also extremely valuable to their clubs.
The senior division outside the Football League is getting more competitive by the year as the financial rewards for the National League’s promoted clubs exceeds millions.
Goalscorers, therefore can make all the difference to a season. Only National League champions Lincoln City achieved the feat of scoring a century of goals as Danny Cowley’s men consistently dominated the headlines in all competitions.
Bonus
Twenty members of the Imps’ squad added vital goals with their main twin forwards Matt Rhead (15) and Nathan Arnold (13), contributing just over a quarter of their total of 109. That is the sign of a well-balanced and talented playing staff.
With goals scored from all sections of the team, Lincoln City certainly deserved their wonderful season and a place back in the Football League.
It’s obviously a bonus when opponents contribute own goals to a team’s total and Tranmere Rovers benefitted most from six of these throughout 2016-17, including three in October alone!
Equally as interesting, Boreham Wood, who finished in the top half of the division, had just nine different marksmen, while 22 contributed for Southport, who were relegated.
That, to me, shows that a settled squad with sufficient talent and lucky enough to avoid too many injuries, can hold their own throughout a long season.
Obviously, a club with a large squad challenging for first team places is extremely healthy, but if the team is being changed a lot in a desperate effort to find a winning formula, the pressure may well prove to be too strong.
Scoring a vital goal for struggling Southport will have given all a thrill, but sadly not a happy ending.
Top scorer Jamie Allen scored 11 goals (including five penalties), with three others scoring five, four with three, six with two and eight and an ‘own goal’ with one each.
Number of goals (League, FA Cup and FA Trophy goals in 2016-17)
Lincoln City 109
Dover Athletic 95
Forest Green Rovers 94
Barrow 92
Tranmere Rovers 92
Dagenham & Redbridge 85
Macclesfield Town 81
Sutton United 81
Gateshead 79
Braintree Town 73
Woking 73
Aldershot Town 71
Eastleigh 71
Solihull Moors 71
York City 69
Bromley 68
Chester 66
Maidstone United 65
Boreham Wood 64
Southport 59
Torquay United 56
Guiseley 53
Wrexham 50
North Ferriby United 33
Number of goalscorers (League, FA Cup and FA Trophy goals in 2016-17)
Southport 22+1 og
Eastleigh 22
Lincoln City 20+4 ogs
York City 20+1 og
Sutton United 18+4 ogs
Forest Green R 18+3 ogs
Guiseley 18+1 og
Maidstone Utd 18+1og
Macclesfield T 18
Wrexham 18
Tranmere Rovers 17+6 ogs
Braintree Town 17+1 og
Torquay United 17+1 og
Solihull Moors 17
Woking 17
Gateshead 16+1 og
Chester 16
Barrow 15+1 og
Aldershot Town 14+1 og
Bromley 14+1 og
Dover Athletic 14+1 og
North Ferriby Utd 14
Dagenham & R 13+2 ogs
Boreham Wood 9
