Hoskins sets sights on continuing his rise up the Cobblers goalscoring charts

The 31-year-old powered home a fourth-minute penalty in the 2-1 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday to take his goal tally in the claret and white to an impressive 91 from 383 matches.

That saw Hoskins move above Albert Lewis, who scored 90 goals in 179 appearances between 1908 and 1913, and next in his sights is fifth-placed Bert Dawes, who netted 94 times in 184 matches between 1929 and 1933.

Top of the list and probably out of reach is Jack English, who rattled in 143 goals in 321 matches between 1947 and 1959, while catching Eddie Bowen's 120 (in 172 games between 1927-31) would also take some doing.

But third-placed William Lockett's 109 goals from 250 games (between 1914-26) and the great Frank Large's 96 from 250 games over three spells in the 1960s and 70s are very much in Hoskins' sights.

The former Southampton trainee’s first goal for the Cobblers came in back in August, 2015, when he netted in a 3-0 League Cup win over Blackpool at Sixfields.

He ended up netting eight times for Chris Wilder’s league two championship-winning team that season, and has been a regular scorer ever since.

His best campaign to date came in the 2022/23 promotion-winning season as he netted 22 times, and he followed that up in league one last season with 15.

"I pay attention to the stats a little bit but the media guys often remind me and point out when I've hit a milestone," said Hoskins.

"On a personal level it's really nice to be hitting those milestones and making my way up the lists.

"I take pride in that but the main thing always is to be helping the team win games.

"We have so many games and they come thick and fast so you don't have too much time to reflect.

"But I look back at what I've achieved at the end of every season, and it's always nice when you tick off a new milestone and I want to keep climbing up those lists."

Hoskins' goal on Saturday was his first of the season, and the club's top-scorer for the past two campaigns was relieved and pleased to get up and running.

"For any attacking player you want that first goal under your best as soon as possible," said Hoskins.

"It's come a few games later than I would have liked this season, but I've been patient and I've ticked that off now and hopefully I can get a few more."