I'm the National League striker who could break Macaulay Langstaff's goalscoring record

When people cast their minds back to legendary National League strikers of the past, Jamie Vardy is probably the first to come to mind.

Now banging in goals for Serie A outfit Cremonese, the former Leicester City man netted 31 goals in 36 appearances for Fleetwood Town during the 2011-12 Conference season.

However, it is Millwall's Macaulay Langstaff who boasts the highest number of goals scored in a single fifth-tier campaign, having totalled 42 goals for Notts County in the 2022-23 season.

This term, a new challenger is looking to break the National League goalscoring record and has every chance of doing so.

Here, DAZN News analyses the contender for Langstaff's throne.

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Ollie Pearce spearheading York City to promotion

Last season, York City's Ollie Pearce was awarded the National League Golden Boot after notching 31 goals in 46 appearances.

However, there would have been a twinge of disappointment tainting his achievement after the Minstermen missed out on promotion via the play-offs despite finishing the season on 96 points.

This time round, Pearce and York are hellbent on improving upon last season's exploits with promotion and Langstaff's goalscoring record both within reach.

After 22 games, Stuart Maynard's men sit third in the table and just one point off Rochdale, while Pearce already has 19 goals to his name.

Crucially, the Minstermen and the 30-year-old striker are in scintillating form, having won their last 7 league games.

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What Pearce must do to break the record

Pearce endured a relatively quiet start to the season by his standards, netting twice against Sutton United and Yeovil Town in his opening 6 matches.

However, from gameweek eleven onwards, the former Worthing man has been relentless, scoring 16 goals in 14 games and only blanking on four occasions.

In his most recent showing, Pearce bagged a hat-trick against Truro City, putting him 7 goals clear of Carlisle United's Regan Linney, Rochdale's Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and Boreham Wood's Matt Rush.

The 30-year-old currently averages 0.86 goals per game, meaning that if he carries on scoring at the same rate, he will finish the campaign on 40 goals - 2 shy of Langstaff's record.

Although breaking the record will be within his sights, the forward will be the first to say that promotion is the only goal he is chasing.

@YorkCityFC

What are York's chances of promotion?

One look at the National League table would tell you that Rochdale are the favourites to lift the title. The Dale are only top on goal difference, but have two games in hand on the Minstermen and three on Forest Green Rovers, who sit second.

Despite the potential gap that Jimmy McNulty's men could build, any slip-up would mean that York would have a realistic chance of catching their promotion rivals.

With only 3 points separating the top 5, it could not be closer, but the form book tells us that the Minstermen are the team to beat as we enter the Christmas period.

Indeed, York are in prolific goalscoring form right now and threaten to blow any of their opponents away on any given day. Maynard's men have scored 59 goals already this season, having scored 3 or more in 7 of their last 8 in all competitions.

After the heartbreak of the play-offs last term, York and Pearce are doing all they can to go one better and clinch their first-ever National League title.

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