As usual there are a few contenders for this one with Mark Kennedy contributing much to Manchester City's important win over West Bromwich, John Durnin almost doubling his tally for the season with two in midweek for Carlisle and Luton pairing Gary Doherty and Liam George both getting off the mark during Town's 3-1 away win at Chesterfield.

Stoke's James O'Connor deserves a mention for continuing his outstanding run of bookings during last week's Auto Windscreens Shield northern final (second leg) against Rochdale. The 20-yearold Dubliner started to break into the club's first team last season, but has made a considerable impact during this campaign becoming a first team regular and out-performing many senior team-mates on a number of occasions.

O'Connor's one-in-five goalscoring record is quite an achievement on his first season in the first team too, but even that's not as impressive as his one booking in every four games. He is, by some way, the Republic's most cautioned representative in British football.

Also worthy of an honourable mention this week is Ciara Grant, late of Benfica Waterford, these days of Arsenal in London. Another midfielder, 21-year-old Grant scored her 10th goal of the season, a fine strike, during Saturday's FA Cup semi-final match against Doncaster Belles.

But just about pipping the lot of them is Paul McGregor of Plymouth who stuck three away goals for Plymouth at Torquay the other day to bring his total for the season to 14.

It's been a bit of a slog for the 25 year old for some time now, despite tending to do quite well when the opportunity presented itself. Since arriving at Home Park, though, he has made more than twice as many starts as during the rest of his career put together and Saturday's haul - which might have been greater had he not been brought off two minutes after completing his hat-trick - is the latest evidence that he is finally starting to fulfil his potential.