32 goals in 23 games – but former Portsmouth ace Brett Pitman STILL needs to improve ratio if he is to beat 19-year-old Wessex League record

But the AFC Portchester striker still needs to up his stunning goals per game ratio if he is to break the Premier goalscoring record!

Back in 2003/04, Winchester City’s Andy Forbes set a new benchmark with 55 league goals.

That has only twice come under serious threat in the subsequent years - Jamie White netting 51 times, also for Winchester, in 2011/12 and Andover’s Justin Bennett hitting 48 in 2005/06.

Former Pompey ace Pitman, though, has already netted 32 Premier goals in just 23 ninth tier starts.

He has only failed to score in four of those 23 matches, and boasts hat-tricks against Alresford, Portland and Blackfield & Langley.

But if he continues his current ratio over the course of the Royals’ 38-game Wessex campaign, he will still finish just short of Forbes’ record with 53 goals.

Pitman has established one new Portchy Wessex goals record already, though. His total of 32 Premier goals in a season has overtaken the previous record of 30 set only last season by Lee Wort.

He is currently level with Simon Woods on 38 goals for the most scored by a Royals player in a single Wessex season.

Woods, currently at US Portsmouth, netted all 38 of his goals in the club’s 2011/12 Division 1 promotion-winning campaign.

Since 2005/06, only four strikers have scored 40 or more goals in a Wessex Premier campaign. Pitman needs just eight more strikes in 15 games to write his name into that list.

Wessex League Premier top scorers

2021/22 - Connor Duffin (Horndean, 40), Zack Willett (Horndean, 35), Lee Wort (AFC Portchester, 30)

2020/21 - Connor Duffin (Horndean, 11)*

2019/20 - Scott Hills (AFC Stoneham, 20)*

2018/19 - Dan Mason (Sholing 44), Hashim Kasimu (Team Solent, 30)

2017/18 - Nathan Lynch (Hamble Club, 35) Zach Glasspool (Andover Town 33), Hashim Kasimu (Team Solent, 32)

2016/17 - Dan Mason (Sholing, 30), Jamie White (Blackfield, 30)

2015/16 - Dan Mason (Sholing, 30), Sam Wilson (Salisbury, 30)

2014/15 - Warren Bentley (Winchester, 37), Steve Hutchings (Moneyfields, 37), Warren Hunt (Petersfield, 30)

2013/14 - Warren Bentley (Alresford, 38), Lee Wort (Sholing, 36)

2012/13 - Alez Przespolewski (Newport IoW, 35), Alex Baldacchino (Blackfield, 31)

2011/12 - Jamie White (Winchester, 51), Jamie Musselwhite (Follands, 30)

2010/11 - Steve Smith (Poole, 31)

2009/10 - Graham Lindsey (Fareham, 28)

2008/09 - Warren Hunt (Sholing, 36), Charlie Austin (Poole, 34)

2007/08 - Scott Joyce (Wimborne, 38), Graham Lindsey (Fareham, 31)

2006/07 - Scott Joyce (Wimborne, 35)

2005/06 - Justin Bennett (Andover, 48), Jamie Musselwhite (Winchester, 33)

*Season incomplete due to the pandemic.

Statistics taken from the FA Full Time website.