Tue 28 Apr 2020, 21:25
We finish our look through the shortlist of players selected by our expert panel by presenting those centre forwards that made the grade.
Pretty well every era here is represented beginning with Cecil Wise through to Niko Muir. We have FA Amateur Cup winners, a man that broke the full international goalscoring record for Northern Ireland, three men that managed 40 goals or more in a season.
An astonishingly difficult selection:
Cecil Wise: 153 appearances, 144 goals (1920 – 1927)
Scored at better than a goal a game in each of his first five seasons for the club. Won a Middlesex Charity Cup and Middlesex Senior Cup winner’s medal and was a key figure in the club’s progression to the top of Amateur football.
Freddie Evans: 175 appearances, 181 goals (1926 – 1927 & 1929 - 1935)
Legendary goalscorer who was twice Athenian League runner-up and won the Middlesex Senior Cup in 1934.
Tommy Lawrence: 130 appearances, 104 goals (1956 - 1959)
Winner of a Middlesex Senior Cup and Middlesex Charity Cup winner’s medal, scored in excess of 30 goals in each of his three campaigns with the club.
David Hyde: 140 appearances, 118 goals (1963 - 1966)
Holds the record for the number of goals scored in a single season with 59 in 54 games in 1964/5. Won the Amateur Cup, scoring twice in the final, the Isthmian League and Middlesex Senior Cup that year. Added a London Senior Cup medal in 1964.
Tony Harding: 85 appearances, 61 goals (1966 – 1968)
Won the Middlesex Senior Cup in 1967, his only honour for the club, but broke the 30-goal barrier in both seasons filling the shoes of David Hyde as the club’s centre forward.
Tony Bass: 103 appearances, 55 goals (1971 - 1973)
Won the FA Amateur Cup in 1972 scoring the second goal against Enfield and repeated the trick in the 2nd leg of the Barassi Cup final in 1973. Scored 30 goals in the title winning season of 1973.
John Baker: 346 appearances, 138 goals (1969 – 1974, 1975 – 1976 & 1980 - 1981)
Won the FA Amateur Cup in 1972, the Barassi Cup in 1973 and Isthmian League in the same season before being part of the side that took on Newcastle in the FA Cup 3rd round in 1974. Scored double figures in each of his 7 seasons at the club.
Colin Tate: 284 appearances, 83 goals (1984 – 1992)
Won the Middlesex Cup in 1986 and made his only appearance of the 1987/8 season in the Middlesex Charity Cup Final win at Wembley Stadium. Also appeared in the 1987 Isthmian League Cup and GMAC Cup finals.
Iain Dowie: 132 appearances, 78 goals (1986 – 1989)
Scored the opening goal in the 1988 Middlesex Charity Cup Final at Wembley Stadium and scored at almost a goal a game in the 1988/9 season before moving to Luton Town. Went on to break the international goalscoring record for Northern Ireland.
Paul Whitmarsh: 120 appearances, 70 goals (1997 – 2000)
Won the Full Members Cup and Middlesex Senior Cup double in 1999 and became the first player since David Hyde to score more than 40 goals in a season during the 1998/99 season.
Niko Muir: 90 appearances, 51 goals (2016 – 2018)
Won the Middlesex Senior Cup in 2018 and became the first payer to score more than 30 league goals in a season in more than half a century as part of the team that got to the Isthmian League play-off final in the same season before moving onto Hartlepool United.
Our thanks are due to David Ballheimer, Simon Lawrence, Peter Lush, Chris Rogers and Sandra & Tony Wood for their help in compiling the shortlist.
Voting concludes at midnight on Friday night with the squad to be named on Saturday.
Once again, the poll can be found below. Happy voting.