Prolific frontman Sylvan Ebanks-Blake propelled Wolves into the Barclays Premier League and topped the Coca-Cola Football League Championship`s Actim Index. The 23-year-old striker totalled 753 points, largely thanks to his remarkable record of 25 goals from 89 shots (61 on target) – a successful strike rate off 28%. On 18 occasions, Ebanks-Blake scored above 20 to finish with an average of 18.
Watford`s Tommy Smith was the highest-ranking midfielder in the Actim Index and his 20-point haul against Derby on the final day enabled him to leapfrog Reading`s Kevin Doyle to finish runner-up to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. Smith`s best score was 46 but his 17 goals and nine assists – the second highest in the top 10 behind Stephen Hunt (17). But for the 29-year-old Hornet`s clinical season in front of goal, Hunt, who scored six times, would surely have been the leading midfielder.
Kevin Doyle was pipped to second place in the Actim Index in the final week of the season after accumulating just one point in Reading`s loss to Birmingham. The Republic of Ireland striker can, however, be pleased with his haul of 18 goals in 3,650 minutes – a goal every 200 minutes. The 25-year-old narrowly avoided dropping behind team-mate Stephen Hunt in the Index after being stifled by the Blues defence as the Royals missed out on automatic promotion on the final day. Hunt had a final total of 684 (five behind Doyle).
It was no surprise Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, as our Actim Index champion, had the joint highest average weekly score of all players who had played more than 10 games with 18. But it may shock you to learn the man sharing the honour with him was strike partner Chris Iwelumo. The Scotland hitman made 10 less appearances than his Wolves colleague, scoring 11 less goals, but some big scores including a 65, a 55 and a 52 brought his overall average up. It would be wrong not to mention Ibrahima Sonko who averaged a staggering score of 28 during his three games with Reading, helped by a very impressive 50 against Plymouth in August.
Preston gatecrashed the play-off party thanks to their victory over QPR and Cardiff’s loss to Sheffield Wednesday but have only five players in the Actim Index top 50 for the season. However, the Lilywhites have proved that a consistent line-up, even if it doesn’t contain stars, can produce results with the five of Andy Lonergan, Sean St Ledger, Billy Jones, Paul McKenna and Ross Wallace missing just 21 games between them this season.
The teams promoted or in the play-offs dominate the upper echelons of our standings with only four players from outside the top six clubs making a place in the top 20. Watford’s Tommy Smith, Swansea’s Jason Scotland and Ross McCormack of Cardiff have all grabbed headlines this season but a solid performance in the final week saw Charlton’s Nicky Bailey seal a season-high 20th position on the final day. Despite playing in a team that finished rooted to the bottom of the table, Bailey scored 13 goals from midfield in 43 games, supplying seven assists and 53 crosses.
