ALL clubs are desperate for one and finding a 20-goal striker is key to Wrexham’s chances of returning to the Football League.

Wrexham’s 12th season in non-league has been suspended with nine games to go because of the coronavirus pandemic and with eight-goal leading scorer Bobby Grant currently on loan at Accrington Stanley, another campaign has passed without a Reds’ player hitting that magic milestone.

In fact, only two players - Jake Speight and Louis Moult - have scored more than 20 goals in a season since Wrexham were relegated to the Conference in 2008.

And Speight is the only one of the deadly duo who reached the 20-goal mark in the league alone.

Dean Saunders brought Speight to The Racecourse and all of the striker’s 21 goals during the 2011-12 campaign came in Conference action.

Wrexham were not short of attacking talent and even after Saunders left to take charge of Doncaster, Speight and his team-mates continued to fire under Andy Morrell.

The Reds finished the season with a club record 98 points but were pipped to automatic promotion by big-spending Fleetwood Town and Morrell’s men lost to Luton in the play-off semi-finals.

Speight didn’t hang around and he left Wrexham after just one season.

Moult eclipsed Speight’s tally during the 2014-15 campaign after following manager Kevin Wilkin to The Racecourse from Nuneaton.

The frontman finished the season with 23 goals, with 16 of those coming in the league.

Moult’s other seven strikes helped Wrexham reach the third round of the FA Cup, where they almost caused an upset against Premier League side Stoke City, and enjoy a run to the FA Trophy final where he bagged a double but the Reds were beaten by North Ferriby United on a penalty shoot-out.

Like Speight, Moult only lasted one season in a Wrexham shirt and he has never been replaced.

No other player has hit the 20-goal mark in the Conference era, although Danny Wright came close and is the best-of-the-rest.

Wright finished the 2012-13 season as leading scorer with 18 goals, of which 15 came in league outings.

But a dislocated shoulder sustained in the penultimate match of the regular season meant Wright missed the play-offs and it was a huge blow as Wrexham reached the final where the promotion dream was ended by Newport County.

As is the norm when Wrexham find a goalscorer, they quickly lose them and Wright moved on in the wake of the Wembley defeat.

Wrexham first secured a play-off spot at non-league level in 2010-11 when Andy Mangan ended top scorer with 15 goals, all of them coming in the league.

Saunders saw Wrexham come unstuck against Luton in the semi-finals and, surprise surprise, Mangan jumped ship in the summer.

The fourth time Wrexham made the play-offs was last season.

Bryan Hughes finished 2018-19 as the club’s third manager of a chaotic campaign as the Reds qualified for the end of season knock-out for the first time in six years.

It was remarkable that Wrexham challenged for the title and eventually finished fourth because they did not having a recognised goalscorer.

Four players - Shaun Pearson, Mike Fondop, Akil Wright and Stuart Beavon - finished the season as joint leading scorer with a meagre six goals. Remarkably, centre-back Pearson was the only one who scored all of his whilst on league duty.

That is the lowest tally for a Reds’ top scorer in the last 12 seasons, closely followed by Gareth Taylor who bagged eight goals in 2009-10.

They are the only two years that Wrexham have not had a single player who has got into double figures, John Rooney (11 goals in 2016-2017) and Johnny Hunt (12 in 2013–2014) just about passing the mark to finish top of the scoring charts at The Racecourse.

Big targetman Jefferson Louis (15 in 2008-9), Connor Jennings (14 in 2015-16) and Chris Holroyd (13 in 2017–2018) have also landed the leading scorer award, falling shy of the illusive 20 goal target.

Wrexham, battling to avoid relegation this term, look set for a 13th campaign in the fifth tier and manager Dean Keates knows unearthing a prolific marksmen is crucial if the Reds want to be fighting it out a the other end of the table in 2020-21.

No pressure there, then!