Erling Haaland and Mo Salah set to be overwhelmed to award by telecoms challenge supervisor

Gary Lockyer is the current leading goalscorer in the 2025 FA Cup with 10 to his name – and the Ashford United striker is confident he can beat the likes of Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah to the award

Ashford United’s Gary Lockyer is poised to snatch the 2025 Mitre Golden Ball, racing ahead as the FA Cup’s top scorer.

With 10 goals against competitors, the 32-year-old semi-pro striker stands a huge chance of stealing the award from football royalty like Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah. In conversation with Mirror Football ahead of the competition’s fourth round, the ambitious forward said: “Growing up as a kid, that’s what you expect don’t you?

“You expect to hit them levels, but obviously certain plans and stuff like that, you don’t get there – you don’t get to them levels. You’re not quite good enough, so to now be in that bracket is quite flattering. You never put your name against their names, but they’re at the level for a reason. I’m at my level for a reason.

“Eventually we get to that time at the end of the season – the final etc – where we come in so early. I think our first round was, I believe, the end of July / beginning of August. These guys don’t come in until the last round, which was January. There’s a lot of waiting to see how they do, but it’s flattering.

“Like I said, I’m not really their level in terms of where they continuously do it, week in, week out – but it is good to put yourself in that bracket.”

Lockyer has been on fire in the FA Cup, kicking off with a double in a 3-0 thrashing of Egham Town back in early August. He then bagged two more across a 1-1 draw and a 3-1 victory over Harrow Borough.

The goal machine then smashed in four against Three Bridges in a 6-1 demolition during the first qualifying round, followed by a single strike in a 3-0 win against Corinthian in the second round. Despite Ashford United getting knocked out after a 3-2 defeat to Chertsey Town, Lockyer’s tally hit 10 goals.

With his eyes on The Golden Ball, in partnership with Mitre, Lockyer believes he has a good shot, especially as the larger clubs often rest their star players in earlier rounds in favour of league outings. He said: “You know what, I do feel confident. I think there was a couple of times, especially from the non-league teams that we present ourselves in, there was a couple of times that these guys got to eight goals and were still in the competition, and I was keeping an eye out for their scores.

“But yeah, lucky for myself that they went out and I think now the pro clubs and the elite clubs have come into it, I think with their easy ties they tend not to play with their strongest 11 and focus on certain games around that they’ve got there. So I feel very confident that I can do it.”

Declan Howe of Gainsborough and Harvey Sayer of Lowestoft trail behind Lockyer in the competition with eight goals each, though their cup dreams are over. Exeter City’s Josh Magennis, with four goals to his name, is still chasing Lockyer but has his work cut out ahead of their clash against high-flying Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest in the fourth round on Tuesday.

Off the pitch, Lockyer grinds away as a telecommunications project manager and has opened up about the struggle of balancing his passion for football with a bustling home life. He said: “I think a lot of people don’t realise that I’ve got a young family – four young children. My daughter plays for Brighton and Hove women U12s. I’ve got two sons that play football as well, and then I’m also working full-time.

“We train on a Tuesday and a Thursday night, we play on a Saturday, we also sometimes play on a Tuesday night. So it’s constant. I know these elite players, that’s what they work for. They train, they drive, their mindset throughout being the best of the best, they just east, sleep and breathe football. Whereas we’ve got other commitments to think about.”

The Isthmian League hero also didn’t shy away from sharing more about his hectic schedule, adding: “Sometimes I would finish training in Ashford in Kent, and then I would drive to Slough at 10 o’clock at night to work until 6 o’clock in the morning.

“I’d come home, get three / four hours sleep and then pick the kids up from school etc. So yeah, it’s demanding. It’s a very demanding aspect, especially when you get a little bit older, I’m 32 now so the body can’t take as much. When you’re younger, obviously you can do a lot, but your preparation sometimes isn’t great. But that’s the story of a Non-League footballer I suppose.”

While many elite level footballers dream of bagging a Champions League, a Ballon d’Or or a Premier League title throughout the course of their careers, Lockyer’s dream ambition is to break club records with Ashford United and scoop this year’s Mitre Golden Ball. He continued: “I’m obviously at Ashford United, I’m a local boy. I live about a mile and a half from the ground.

“I’m currently second all-time top goalscorer. I need another 14 goals, so I’d like to get that. I’m probably around about 60 to 70 appearances from all-time appearances as well. So I’d like to get that and achieving this Mitre Golden Ball at Wembley with my local club would mean quite a lot.

“I also do Monday night coaching there as well. So I do quite a lot, try and support the ladies when I can. I do a lot for the club so I think it would be great to get there for them records as well. I’m currently on 25 goals in 32 starts this year, so if I can get another 14 this year – there’s about 14 games left.

“But yeah, I’d like to get there. I’d like to do them. As an answer to your question would be when I feel like I need to stop, body-wise, family commitment-wise. I don’t want to miss too much football from my kids as well so. I always said 35 but you never know.”

As things stand, Salah and Haaland are both goalless in this season’s FA Cup. Haaland didn’t come off the bench in Manchester City’s 8-0 demolition of Salford City in the third round, while Salah was rested completely for Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley.

They have work to do if they’re going to catch up to Lockyer – City face Leyton Orient in east London at Saturday lunchtime, while Liverpool go to Plymouth Argyle on Sunday afternoon.