Star Melbourne City striker Jamie Maclaren says he'll do his best to become the first player to reach the magical 30-goal mark in an A-League season.
Maclaren continued his sizzling form on Wednesday night with a double in City's 3-1 win over Perth Glory at HBF Park.
It took his career tally to 101 A-League goals - reaching the triple-figure mark in a league-fastest 144 games.
It also extended his lead in this season's golden boot race.
Maclaren now has 22 goals - a whopping 11 goals clear of Macarthur FC's Matt Derbyshire in second place.
The record goal tally for an A-League season is 27, which was achieved by Sydney FC's star Brazilian Bobo in 2017/18.
Maclaren has his sights set on 30, and he has seven more regular-season games to achieve it.
"I'll try my absolute best," Maclaren told Fox Sports.
"I pride myself on every game wanting to score goals and working hard in training to make sure I'm in the best position possible.
"The boys are creating for me. I probably could have had three tonight. It's a credit to them."
Maclaren spent the first two seasons of his A-League career at Perth Glory, but he left in 2015 after struggling for starting opportunities.
"That was motivation," he said of being let go by Glory.
"I was deemed not good enough. As a player, you either sink or swim.
"I believe I had the qualities to go over to Brisbane and show that I could be a 20-goal striker. I've done that four times now. Some people wrote me off, but I guess that's the motivation for me."
City are now six points clear on top of the table and with a game in hand on second-placed Central Coast and third-placed Sydney.
They will be back in action on Sunday when they host Brisbane Roar, and they will be boosted by the return of Andrew Nabbout (groin).
Glory's finals hopes look shot after slipping 10 points adrift of sixth spot with just one win from their past 12 matches.
"Confidence isn't high, and that becomes an issue," Glory coach Richard Garcia said.
"I feel that when there are moments in the game where we need to be brave and step up and be counted, we find ourselves lacking.
"There's a lot of characters in the dressing room that probably need to change their mentality as far as where we're heading.
"I feel there's a few feeling sorry for themselves.
"Their mentality of recovering from setbacks is lacking. There is that mentality of, 'Here we go again'. We want players who are going to stand up and be counted."
Australian Associated Press
