Macauley Bonne is making the Ipswich Town striking spot his own following a superb start to the League One season.
The 25-year-old already has five league goals to his name in only six appearances this season which, remarkably, is a tally only James Norwood (nine) and Gwion Edwards (six) managed in Town shirts throughout the entirety of last season.
Bonne’s most recent strike secured the Blues’ 1-0 victory at Lincoln on Saturday, while a last-gasp equaliser rescued a point on opening day against Morecambe, before his brace against MK Dons also secured a point for his side as both games ended in 2-2 draws.
He may not lead the League One scoring charts – that honour is currently shared by Morecambe’s Cole Stockton and Ryan Hardie of Plymouth, who have six goals in eight appearances - but Bonne is the most potent striker in the division.
The Town man is in a group of five players on five goals but has got them in two games fewer than Lincoln’s Anthony Scully and Rotherham’s Michael Smith, while also having played one less game than Joe Ironside of Cambridge and Ross Stewart of Sunderland.
The Ipswich striker missed the Wimbledon game through injury, of course, meaning his five goals have come in just six matches. He also only played the final 12 minutes of Town’s draw with Morecambe, meaning his goals have come in a total of just 394 minutes of action.
That’s a goal every 79 minutes on the field which is, of course, better than a goal a game. His goals have come from only 11 shots, too, meaning he is converting 45% of his chances.
He’s accurate, too, hitting the target with an impressive 73% of his shots – a record bettered only by Wycombe’s Gareth McCleary (four goals, 88%) of those who have scored more than three in League One this season.
Bonne’s current levels of production put him on pace for 38 goals over the course of a full 46-game season.
And it could have been even better, had he not managed to miss from just a few yards out when presented with an open goal after rounding the keeper at Cheltenham last month.
Only Joe Pigott has scored more than once in the league so far this season, putting Bonne firmly ahead in the race to be the Blues’ top scorer in 2021/22.
Norwood finished last season on nine league goals to top Town’s scoring charts, while he and Kayden Jackson managed 11 apiece in 2019/20 in a Covid-shortened season.
Gwion Edwards and Freddie Sears topped the charts with six each on the way to relegation, during what has been a miserable three years for Ipswich Town goalscorers.
Martyn Waghorn managed 16 in 2017/18, with Tom Lawrence hitting nine the year before as Daryl Murphy and Brett Pitman shared the title on 10 in 2015/16.
Murphy, of course, hit 27 in 2014/15 as the Blues made the play-offs, but you have to go all the way back to the 1999/2000 season to find the previous occasion when an Ipswich striker managed 20 goals in a regular league season. David Johnson did it with 22 that year, having also netted 20 in 1997/98, while Shefki Kuqi and Darren Bent both hit 19 in the 2004/05 campaign. Kuqi then added another in the play-offs, while Bent would have had 20 league goals had a header against Wolves, early in the season, not been taken away from him and declared an own goal instead.
Pablo Counago (2002/03) and Marcus Stewart (2000/01) are the only other players to have broken 20 goals in all competitions during the last 30 years.
But Bonne is now firmly on target to be Town’s first 20-goal a season man in more than half a decade and just the third man to reach that target in blue during a regular league season in the last 30 years.
Ipswich Town top league scorers over last 30 years
2021/22: Macauley Bonne 5*
2020/21: James Norwood – 9
2019/20: James Norwood/Kayden Jackson – 11
2018/19: Gwion Edwards/Freddie Sears – 6
2017/18: Martyn Waghorn – 16
2016/17: Tom Lawrence – 9
2015/16: Daryl Murphy/Brett Pitman – 10
2014/15: Daryl Murphy – 27
2013/14: David McGoldrick – 14
2012/13: DJ Campbell – 10
2011/12: Michael Chopra – 14
2010/11: Jason Scotland – 10
2009/10: Jon Walters – 8
2008/09: Jon Stead – 12
2007/08: Jon Walters – 13
2006/07: Alan Lee – 16
2005/06: Nicky Forster – 7
2004/05: Darren Bent/Shefki Kuqi – 19 (Kuqi added one more in the play-offs)
2003/04: Darren Bent – 15
2002/03: Pablo Counago – 17
2001/02: Marcus Bent – 9
2000/01: Marcus Stewart – 19
1999/00: David Johnson – 22
1998/99: David Johnson/James Scowcroft – 13
1997/98: David Johnson – 20
1996/97: Paul Mason – 12
1995/96: Ian Marshall – 19
1994/95: Claus Thomsen – 5
1993/94: Ian Marshall – 10
1992/93: Chris Kiwomya – 10
1991/92: Chris Kiwomya – 16
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