THE numbers have added up to a hugely successfully season for Glen Taylor, who combines being a maths teacher with scoring the goals that have equated to a play-off place for Spennymoor Town.

The striker’s haul of 25 league goals (plus another six in cup games) easily exceeds his pre-season target of 20.

While a calculator is not required to work out his total, Taylor was this week given a trophy after being named National League North player of the season in recognition of his contribution to Moors’ promotion push, the next stop being away to Brackley tomorrow.

They travel today ahead of the play-off semi-final, one of the biggest games in Moors’ history.

“It’s an overnight stay and it’s a good group of lads at Spennymoor, we all get on really well so it’s good banter on the bus. I think we’ll get down there for 6pm and watch the Newcastle v Liverpool game,” says Taylor.

Tomorrow's game in Northamptonshire is a one-legged contest with the winners meeting Chorley or Altrincham in the final next weekend, and Taylor tomorrow aims for goal number 32.

Number one came in August, a looping header to rescue a point at the Brewery Field in a 2-2 draw with Darlington.

It was also against Darlington at Blackwell Meadows in January that Taylor scored probably the best goal of his season so far, a thunderous long-range strike that levelled the score before Moors went on to win 2-1.

As a teacher at St Aidan’s in Darlington, it was a sweet moment for Taylor and the match at Blackwell Meadows is an occasion he remembers fondly, not only for the goal but also for a chance meeting with one of his pupils.

He said: “I remember going over to collect the ball near the crowd and I was getting battered. ‘Who are you’, they were saying, and one of the kids from school was in the front row! So I thought I’d give him a bit back and said: “I’m the top goalscorer in the league!

“When I’ve played against Darlington a few of the kids have come to watch and I always get a bit of grief off them. It’s probably the only time they can call me a w*****!”

He had the last word on the day and will hope to conclude the campaign with promotion to the National League as well as his top scorer accolade.

Six of his 31 goals have been penalties, but it was from much further out that he scored against Quakers, giving goalkeeper Jonny Maddison no chance.

“I’d never stood over a free-kick in my life,” he explained. “We’ve got good free-kick takers in Stephen Brogan and Sparky, but it was out of their range, so I thought why not give it a whack.

“And during the Darlington game we needed a goal from somewhere and luckily enough it flew in.

“Apparently it was 35 yards. Usually when I score the ball is in the back of the net by the time you look up because you’re close to the goal, but this time I watched it go in.”

He added: “Getting 20 league goals this season was my target because last year I got 19, 20 is usually my target.

“I scored 37 one season in the Northern League, but this is a lot better because of the standard of the division we’re playing in. No disrespect to the Northern League, but to score 31 goals at this level, I feel really proud of it.”

Brackley and Spennymoor won their respective home games against each other this season, Taylor scoring the winner when the teams met at the Brewery Field last month, but losing 4-1 in Northamptonshire in the first half of the campaign.

“In the first 30 minutes we were winning 1-0, but James Curtis got two yellows inside five minutes. Going down there is hard enough with 11 men, so playing with ten killed us,” explained Taylor.

“At home it was a tight game and we won 2-1. It was a bit of an end-of-season game, even though we were both chasing top three, neither team was at its best but we managed to win.

“So we’ve got one win each this season, but we have a good history in play-off games. We’ve won the last five or six so we’re pretty confident going into Sunday.”