ASIB on the WEB

You might remember that, back in December, ASIB on the WEB alerted its readers to the fact that Jamie Roberts was closing in on the Club goal scoring record. If you don’t, here is a really useful link to help to jog your memory. Roberts Races to Record As you will, now, no doubt recall, the article finished with a prediction that, at the rate he was going, Jamie would pass the previous mark of 191, established by Phil Cotton back in the 1990’s, in 6 games time. To both his, and our, eternal credit, this prediction was absolutely spot on, although it is doubtful that, at the time, anyone imagined that it would take two and a half months for the next 6 matches to be played. Unfortunately, with all the attention, over the last couple of weeks, focused on Cup Semi Finals and home matches with League Leaders, the fact that Jamie, in the midst of it all, became recognised as the club’s leading scorer of all time went somewhat unnoticed. Until now.

Jamie’s 192^nd goal for the club was scored in the Reserve Team’s 1-1 draw with Dowty Dynamos on Saturday, 28^th February, 2009. His first was in the 5-2 home win over Hatherley Rangers on 22^nd September, 2001. Also on the scoresheet that day were Paul Meegan, who scored two, Brett Harrington, who was then the team captain, and Tim Jones, but we are investigating the database that maintains the stats to see if this is an error. Apart from Tim and Jamie, the only other survivor from the side that played that day is Rick Redfearn and the leading scorer that season proved to be Paul Meegan, who ended up with 20. Since his goal scoring start, Jamie has continued to score goals with alacrity in each of the club’s three sides. Even so, the vast majority of his haul have still been registered for the 1^st team, with whom he was a member of the Cheltenham League Championship winning side in 2006, contributing 36 goals in 24 games, and the Northern Senior League Division Two Runners-up squad, for whom he scored 33 goals in 30 games in the 2006-07 season.

Jamie has maintained an incredible level of consistency over the course of his time with the club and has only twice, in his first two seasons with us when the quality of the service that he was receiving would have to be seriously doubted, failed to score at more than a goal a game. Overall, the 192 goals that he scored for the club in order to break its recognised record were notched in just 161 games, a rate of 1.19 goals per game, or one goal every 75 minutes, more or less. Now that the record has been broken – and re-established at 193, following his winning goal against Charlton Rovers on March 14^th – it is to be presumed that Jamie’s sights are firmly set on the 200 mark which, once again, we confidently predict he will reach in 6 games time, if current scoring rates prevail.

One final note – none of Jamie’s 193 goals for the club have come in penalty shoot-outs. Indeed, the Cup Semi Final against Frampton United is recorded, in the Official club stats, as the only Reserve team game since last November in which Jamie has failed to score, despite the fact that he rattled home the first spot kick after the match finished 2-2 at the end of extra time. This should be of particular interest to anyone who might be trying to extricate themselves from the top of the “Couldn’t Score in a Brothel” league on the strength of the penalty that they scored in the shoot-out that day. People such as Jon Moss, for example!!!!!!