Meet England's most in-form striker with twice as many goals as Haaland
As Pep Guardiola once said, scoring goals remains the hardest thing to do in football. Despite being one of the greatest managers of all-time, even he admitted that putting the ball in the back of the net is the most difficult task. This was before Manchester City signed Erling Haaland, of course.
However, non-league talisman Jonathon Margetts is making goalscoring look easy at the moment, having already netted 12 times in nine matches this season. The 29-year-old is the leading scorer in England's top seven tiers and has struck seven in his last two games, including a four-goal haul last weekend.
Margetts joined Northern Premier League side Matlock in May after scoring 36 goals for Stamford in the eighth-tier last season. Despite making the one division jump, Margetts has had no issues adjusting to the higher level and believes he is in the most "prolific" form of his career right now.
Speaking to Mirror Football, Margetts said: "I'm loving my football. As a striker, you're always enjoying it when you're scoring goals and winning games. I think it's the perfect combination for any forward.
"We have a bit of an indifferent start. We couldn't get a win in the first few but I think we've hit our form now. On a personal note, that has coincided with me scoring, so it's fallen into place."
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"I think the best I played was when I was at Lincoln," he added. "But goalscoring wise this is the most prolific that I have been. I am feeling fit and enjoying football, I feel like I can score every game."
Jonathon Margetts has 12 goals in nine matches this season (Matlock Town)Margetts failed to find the net in his first three matches for Matlock, but soon hit the ground running when he struck a brace against Atherton Collieries. That was the start of a scoring blitz for Margetts, who has netted three hat-tricks in his last five appearances in all competitions.
The former Lincoln striker has nine goals in the league with three coming in the FA Cup. But, like all top players, Margetts is keeping his feet on the ground and is determined to continue his frightening run of form.
" Listen, you always want to be the top scorer in whatever league you play in, so to be top scorer in the top seven leagues is a really nice stat," he said.
"But again, as the old analogy goes, you win nothing in September, and if I’m the top scorer come April-time I am sure Matlock will be at the top end of the division. I know how quickly football can turn. You can be a hero one week, especially as a striker and then you can miss a penalty the next.
Jonathon Margetts has scored three hat-tricks this season (Matlock Town)"You’ve just got to keep your head down, not get too high when you’re scoring and not get too low when you have games when you inevitably miss chances. It always seems to happen in my career when things are going really well and then you have that one game where you miss a chance and it brings you back down to reality.
"Over the years by getting more experience and getting a bit older, I think you sort of learn not to get carried away, because when it is going well, work harder. You’ve got to keep your head down and good things will happen from there."
Margetts has enjoyed a rollercoaster journey after coming through the ranks at Hull, spending time at 16 different clubs across his nine-year senior career so far. Margetts had short spells in the EFL with Cambridge and Scunthorpe, while impressing in the National League at Lincoln, Altrincham and Southport.
Although Margetts has not played as high as the fifth-tier since 2017, he doesn't see why he cannot get back to that level in the near future. Since dropping out of professional football, the forward has balanced playing with working as a physiotherapist at Doncaster.
When asked about whether could progress back through the pyramid, Margetts said: "I don't see why I can't. I have become a father in the summer, so it's something that makes football not my priority as such.
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Jonathon Margetts played for Lincoln in 2017 (Getty Images)"When you have a child things change, and I think that's why I have done so well at the start of this season because my mind has been taken off football. Who knows what may happen in the future, but I'm just enjoying my football at the moment at Matlock and hopefully we can have a good season."
Matlock are back in FA Cup action this weekend when they travel to fellow seventh-tier side Stourbridge in the second qualifying round. Margetts scored a hat-trick in the first qualifying round replay victory over Gainsborough last Tuesday and he is eager to keep the Gladiators' cup run going.
He said: "I think the FA Cup is the best competition in the world, isn't it? The stuff it creates every year and the memories it has, so it’s one of them going into it hoping you can be the standout story each year.
"You always see one team in non-league who gets to the first-round or second-round and gets a higher team. You look at Marine who played Tottenham [in 2021], it can set up teams for years to come and if we can have a run like that, it will be brilliant for the club and for all the players."
Margetts has history with the FA Cup. He was part of the Lincoln side that reached the quarter-final in 2017, beating Premier League side Burnley and Championship duo Ipswich and Brighton along the way. But the Imps' outstanding journey came to an end against Arsenal at the Emirates.
With his side already two-down, Margetts came on for the final 36 minutes to pit his wits against the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Petr Cech. Lincoln ended up losing 5-0 but Margetts explained how it was an experience he will never forget.
Recalling that experience, Margetts finished: "I left Lincoln at the start of the year to sign for Scunthorpe and I went back on loan and that was one of the first games back. It was the FA Cup quarter-final and I was really lucky to play in that and it was something that will live with me for a long time. If we can have even half of that success it will be amazing.
"It was phenomenal, from the ground, to the atmosphere to playing against them players. We used to get sent clips of all the players before we played them at Lincoln, what their strengths were and what their weaknesses were.
"I remember the couple of days before we got sent clips of Arsenal’s defence and I think there were two World Cup winners out of five. It’s a bit of a change from playing Aldershot a week before. But it was a fantastic experience and one I will never forget."
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