Here’s my column from last week’s Leader. It forms part of the paper’s comprehensive pre-match coverage every Friday, featuring interviews, an in-depth look at the opposition and lots of statistical analysis. All content in the column (c) www.leaderlive.co.uk.

For a brief, tantalising moment, Danny Wright was Europe’s top scorer this year. With the Telford game on New Year’s Day the first professional match on the continent to kick off in 2013, Wright grabbed his opportunity, and in scoring the opener got to lead the continental field for a bit.

Although it’s a fun fact, Wright’s spell as the Europe’s most deadly striker is merely coincidental, of course: a freak fact created by an unusual kick-off time. However, his performances this season represent something considerably more substantial.

Wright’s excellent form since he returned from injury has given our title challenge a real boost. Since his arrival from Cambridge last season he’s been consistently impressive, but his forte was playing the target man role rather than hitting the net. By adding goals to his strength, aerial ability and powerful running he’s helping to tick a crucial box for Andy Morrell.

Managers love it when their strikers score. It’s nice when your midfielders contribute, and a bonus as your defenders chip in, but if the forwards aren’t hitting the net, you’re in trouble. Morrell must be very happy with the dynamic within his side then, as his strikers are certainly in full working order.

I’ve spent a good chunk of the season worrying where the goals were going to come from, an issue Morrell recognised when he drafted Andy Bishop in to provide something at the sharp end. It looked like we had plenty of good options up front, but lacked a twenty goal a season focal point since Jake Speight went back to Mansfield.

However, Wrexham have found a solution in communal effort. Morrell likes to rotate his strikers, and they’ve responded by all chipping in. While Wright’s prolific form is the icing on the cake, the fact is that everybody is contributing, so there are no passengers to compensate for.

Wright has six in his last seven starts, Morrell himself has four in four and Brett Ormerod has four in four. With Nick Rushton grabbing three in recent weeks and both Rob Ogleby and Adrian Cieslewicz prolific from the bench, the forward line is functioning terrifically well.

In fact, you have to go back to last October for the last time we’ve gone two games in a row without one of our strikers scoring.

And they create as well.  Those six strikers have accumulated seventeen assists in the last eleven games, often to tee each other up. It’s interesting to look at our most prolific creative combinations this season: Ormerod has set up four of Wright’s goals, while Rushton has played the killer pass for three of Ormerod’s strikes. Wright has teed Rushton up twice, as has Ogleby for Cieslewicz. Attacking relationships are forming which promise to be profitable as the season develops.

His strikers’ form poses an interesting conundrum for Morrell. He must have planned, since Bishop returned to Bury, to draft a striker in once the transfer window opened. Yet the form of his forward line means he might be able to save his cash. And Wright’s still ahead of Messi this year!