Penalty Kings

Of our top scorers from the last 27 years, 13 have not been on penalties, and 14 have bumped up their tally with free hits from 12 yards. You might be tempted into picking John Akinde as the penalty king, and you’d be almost right. The big striker netted 15 league goals in 45 outings for the Imps, but nine of those came from the spot. Indeed, his open play ratio of 0.15, or a goal every seven matches, is the second-lowest of our leading scorers.

He wasn’t the penalty king, but the player who holds that crown wasn’t a striker. It was Jorge Grant in 2020/21, scoring 10 times from the spot in 13 fixtures. One of his ‘open play’ goals also came from the spot, a rebounded effort against Charlton, which technically wasn’t a goal from a penalty. He played 36 times that season, and missed at least one (that I can recall) against Doncaster.

Outside of those two, the obvious two, Jamie Forrester is the next highest. He scored seven penalties in 2006/07 from a total goals haul of 18, meaning a tally of 11 from open play. That actually meant Mark Stallard was the most ‘lethal’ discounting penalties, as his 15 goals didn’t include any penalties at all.