Amitai Winehouse (@awinehouse1)
There has been a constant train of successful non-league strikers stepping up to the Football League in recent seasons.
The most notable of these is undoubtedly Charlie Austin, who has began to score on a more regular basis for Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League, having played for sides like Kintbury Rangers, Hungerford Town and Poole Town less than eight years ago.
There have been others, however, and it is increasingly clear that players from the bottom can have an impact on the top-level of the game, no matter how far they’ve fallen.
Here are seven things that prove non-league stars can step up:
1. Jermaine Beckford scored a goal every other game in his first season in League One with Leeds United
2. Steve Morison bullied League One defences, scoring 35 goals in two seasons for Millwall
3. Dwight Gayle stepped up to the Premier League in only two years after leaving non-league, costing Crystal Palace a club record £4.5 million
Here he is ending Liverpool’s title hopes last season.
4. Jamie Vardy struggled, scoring only four goals in 26 games after his £1 million move to Leicester City, but played a key role as they beat Manchester United 5-3 in the Premier League this season
Unlucky Louis.
5. Jermaine Beckford scored the goal as Leeds beat their biggest rivals Man Utd away from home for the first time since 1981. In the same season, he scored a last-minute equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur and the goal that won Leeds promotion
I think you need to change your heading regarding Leeds beating Man Utd for the first time since 1981. They weren’t that invincible.
Look back a little further and QPR and Palace were again picking up non-league stars with Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright going onto forge stellar Premier League careers and winning international caps along the way. It can be done, but scouting lower leagues for talent hardly seems de rigeur for some clubs nowadays!