Top 50 Goals Scored

Having listed the top 50 appearances for Chester in the Football League along with Chester FC since 2010 it seemed reasonable to list the top 50 goalscorers during the same period.

The Football League details cover the period from the 1931/32 season to 1999/200 and then from 2004/05 to 2008/09. Once again the figures do not include the Conference years. During this period there were 4127 league goals and 424 different goalscorers. 89 of the goals were own goals.

League goals scored between 2010/11 and 2024/25 includes the 32 goals from the aborted 2020/21 campaign bringing the total number of goals scored to 1020 of which 17 were own goals. The remaining 1003 were split amongst 166 players and these are the top 50 (actually its top 53).

Copyright ©  Chas Sumner http://www.chesterfootballhistory.com All Rights Reserved

Top 50 League Appearances

At the start of the year a former player asked where he stood in terms of Football League appearances for the old Chester club. I produced a table of all 767 players who played a Football League game and below is the top 50. It covers league games from 1931 to 2000 and 2004 to 2009 so the Conference years are not included. The first column combines starts and substitute appearances but I have also split them off in column two and three.

I thought it would also be a useful exercise to do the same thing for Chester FC appearances from 2010/11 up to the end of the 2024/25 season. Again this is league games only but note that it includes appearances from the aborted 2020/21 campaign when 17 games were played.

For the record there have been 309 different players to feature in a league game and listed below are the top 50.

Copyright ©  Chas Sumner http://www.chesterfootballhistory.com All Rights Reserved

Fastest Goalscoring Debutant

When Matt Sargent scored after 87 seconds with his first touch of the ball against Kettering Town the question was asked if a Chester player had ever scored a quicker goal on his league debut.

The previous record holder for the reformed club was Johnny Hunt who scored after 4 minutes in the first game of the 2015/16 season when Chester beat Braintree Town 1-0.

Special mention should be made to Jamie Menagh who scored in the 8th and 10th minute in a 4-1 win over Lincoln City in December 2013 while Akwasi Asante scored a hat trick in 69 minutes against Darlington in December 2018 on his debut.

The following table is a definitive list of goalscoring league debutants since the club reformed in 2010 with the quickest first.

  • Matt Sargent v Kettering Town 19/3/22 – 87 seconds
  • Johnny Hunt v Braintree Town 8/8/15 – 4 minutes
  • Wayne Riley v Kidderminster Harriers 25/8/14 – 5 minutes (substitute 78 score 83)
  • Rob Hopley v Warrington Town 24/8/10 – 6 minutes
  • Jamie Menagh v Lincoln City 21/12/13 – 8 minutes
  • James McCarthy v Skelmersdale United 20/11/10 – 11 minutes (substitute 72 score 83)
  • Jordan Archer v Barrow 24/10/17 – 11 minutes
  • Brendon Daniels v Vauxhall Motors 23/2/13 – 12 minutes
  • Luke Holden v Whitby Town 12/11/11 – 14 minutes
  • Matt McNeil v Rushall Olympic 13/8/11 – 14 minutes
  • Matt McGinn v FC United 24/8/11 – 17 minutes
  • Levi Mackin v Rushall Olympic 7/1/12 – 17 minutes (substitute 73 score 90)
  • Danny O’Brien v Altrincham 16/2/16 – 26 minutes
  • Akwasi Asante v Darlington 1/12/18 – 27 minutes
  • Jack Redshaw v Blyth Spartans 25/9/21. – 27 minutes (substitute 59 score 86)
  • Chris Simm v Ossett Albion 22/1/11 – 43 minutes
  • James Caton v Grimsby Town 12/4/14 – 45 (substitute 45 score 90)
  • Okera Simmonds v Curzon Ashton 22/1/22 – 47 minutes
  • Matty Taylor v Welling United 1/2/14 – 55 minutes
  • Declan Weeks v Kidderminster Harriers 6/10/20 – 57 minutes
  • Cain Noble v Maidstone United 21/4/18 – 58 minutes
  • Jerome Wright v Burscough 17/8/11 – 62 minutes
  • Danny Williams v Vauxhall Motoirs 30/10/12 – 65 minutes
  • Conor Wilkinson v Aldwershot 2/11/13 – 67 minutes
  • Matty Hughes v Aldershot 7/10/14 – 80 minutes

Chester FC – The First 500 games

Chester celebrated the 500th game in style with that 3-2 win over King’s Lynn on Tuesday. I had a few people ask me about the breakdown of the matches so here is the spreadsheet.

It is worth noting that there have still been significantly more victories than defeats (225 against 165). The next away win will be the 100th.

Copyright ©  Chas Sumner http://www.chesterfootballhistory.com All Rights Reserved