Conor’s Looking To Motor Like Austin

WHEN I called Conor Washington on Wednesday night, the young striker was in the hotel room where new club Newport County have placed him, watching Lukas Podolski fire his beloved Arsenal to a Champions League victory.

But the Germany international wasn't the only striker with a sensational scoring record on the mind of the 20-year-old hot-shot, who stepped up to the Blue Square Bet Premier from side St Ives Town this week.

Burnley's Charlie Austin, the man already at the top of the Championship charts before he took his haul for the season to 14 with Tuesday's treble against Wednesday, was the first name to flow out of Washington's mouth when we discussed role models.

As a teenager Austin made a name for himself in the with , Division One East with Kintbury Rangers and then Premier Division before moving back to the Wessex with .

Austin smashed 73 goals in 59 games for Thatcham and 64 in 59 for Poole before he got his League chance in 2009 when Swindon chairman Andrew Fitton, who had been Hungerford's chairman during Austin's spell at Bulpit Lane, recommended him to then-Robins manager Danny Wilson.

It brought his life as an apprentice bricklayer and Step 5 footballer to an end, and ever since he has bulldozed his way around League penalty areas, especially of late, firing ten goals in his last five matches.

One came on his return to face Swindon in the Capital One Cup last week, where current County Ground boss Paolo Di Canio described Austin as “not a very elegant player to watch, but he's a competitive guy?.” He added: “He's got physical presence and in the box he's a killer.”

There is no question that Austin's formative years spent riding the mistimed challenges and stray elbows of feeder league defenders have given him those instincts.

And it's the same for Washington. He made his St Ives debut at 16 and last season fired 52 goals in 50 games. This term he had 11 in eight and the Cambridgeshire club's manager, Jez Hall, said: “He is worth the admission price on his own sometimes.”

Newport have paid around 5,000 pounds for his services and as his new gaffer, Justin Edinburgh, told me over a cuppa before last week's game with Grimsby: “It's a gamble well worth taking.”

On Wednesday night, as he watched the Gunners on his laptop, Washington said: “Charlie Austin is the example I always throw out there when people say it's a massive step up.

“I played against Poole in the the season after he'd left, but people were still talking about him down there.

“Look at what he's done for Swindon and Burnley. He's the perfect example, along with people more locally, like Craig Mackail-Smith, for me to follow.”

Mackail-Smith, who had scored Ryman League goals for Arlesey, arrived at Peterborough having used Dagenham & Redbridge as his Conference stepping stone. Now at Brighton, he's alongside Austin at the top of those scoring charts.

Washington might have ended up at London Road himself this summer, only to spend his May trial training with the youth team.

“I didn't want to go to Peterborough and get stuck in development football, because I know I'm not ready for the Championship,” he said. “I've been playing first-team football since I was 16 and I think that's made me a better player than development football would have. I didn't want to step into a situation where you're not playing for points.”

Like Danny Wilson did with his Swindon chairman, Edinburgh has taken the advice of his old Rushden coach Kevin Nicholls, the former Luton midfielder who is now working as an agent and representing Washington.

Similarly, 's 17-year-old winger Harry Cornick has been on trial with a host of Premier League clubs and I'm told that Josh Fowler, the Shrivenham striker, impressed on trial at Crystal Palace last week.

Fowler, also 17, is also on the radar of west London Premier League sides Fulham and QPR.

He's got ten goals already this term, is over six feet tall and described by his manager, Michael McNally, as “the quickest thing I've seen in a decade.”.

Like Austin, Washington and others, you can guarantee he's got the strength too because there are some hidden gems toughening themselves among the real grass-roots, just waiting for the chance to burst through.

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