Taylor is too hot to handle!

SK KITS Golden Boot

Joe Taylor – Ramsgate

GOAL MACHINE: Ramsgate’s Joe Taylor celebrates another goal and picks up his award from Ian Senior of SK Kits, inset

PICTURE: Matt Bristow

RAMSGATE marksman Joe Taylor revealed greater dedication to his goalscoring craft is the secret behind his stunning 53 goals last season.

Taylor received the SK Kits Golden Boot award at The Non-League Paper’s National Game Awards in association with Isuzu, with his half century in the league, FA Cup and FA Trophy the most of any player in Non-League from Steps 1-4.

The 33-year-old arrived with huge pedigree after banging in 70 goals across two seasons for Lewes in the step above and continued his form with the Rams, netting 42 goals in 38 league matches as well as nine in their memorable FA Cup run.

Taylor insisted while the number of goals came as a bit of a surprise, he knew he would have no trouble finding the back of the net after putting in the hard yards in recent years.

Dedicating

“As a youngster, I maybe didn’t dedicate myself as I should have,” he said. ‘The shape of my body, the amount I was training, what I was doing outside of football.

“It took for me to have children to really make me grow up, get a good partner in my fiancée Sophie. I started dedicating myself to everything I do.

“I joined a club outside the area and really dedicated myself to it, since I did that

I flew. I have always had the talent but didn’t have the dedication as a youngster.

“As soon as I did that, I started getting over 30 goals every season. I am really proud of the hard work put into it.

“Ramsgate are looking to go up the leagues and I get a lot of chances made for me by good players, but I still had to knock them in.”

Rewards

Taylor certainly reaped the rewards of his hard work but admitted he will be putting individual accolades aside next term as the Rams aim for promotion from the Pitching In Isthmian League Division One South East.

Ben Smith’s side agonisingly missed out on the title despite racking up 89 points and then fell to Chichester City in the play-offs, but Taylor and his side will be back for more next season. He added: “Promotion doesn’t happen overnight. It was our manager’s first season at the club, and it was our highest points total in a very long time.

“We got to play at Wimbledon in the FA Cup, so we had a great season and the only thing we didn’t get was the promotion. I’m proud to be there again next season and give it my best shot.

“I have got used to scoring 30 goals. The two seasons before I had 70 in total at Lewes and thought that was a good total and then got 53 this year!

“My target is always 30 but we have extra teams coming into our league next year so a few more fixtures. Maybe I will up that to 40 but the primary target has to be promotion for us as a team, all the individual ones come behind.”