This season Prostate Cancer UK is the official charity of The Football League. To celebrate, we've asked bloggers from each of the 72 clubs to count down their top five strikers to have worn the No9 shirt, in recognition of the fact that prostate cancer affects one in nine men.

Hat-trick habit: Tony Adcock notched up five hat-tricks at Colchester. Photo courtesy of PA

 

Here blogger Graeson Lait, from coludata.co.uk and coludaybyday.co.uk, selects Colchester's five best No9s… and one to forget!

5. Roy McDonough (1981-83 & 1990-94)
Sent off 22 times in his career, 'Big Roy' was one of football's hard men who could also play a bit, as 82 goals for the club would suggest. He had two spells with the club, the second as player-manager, winning the non-league double in 1992 and rewarding long-suffering U's fans with their first-ever visit to the old Wembley Stadium. 

4. Vic Keeble (1947-52)
The U's first local lad made good, Keeble was sold to Newcastle in 1952 for a club record of £15,000, and went on to claim an FA Cup winners' medal in 1955 alongside Jackie Milburn. He scored 84 goals in 130 appearances, including a hat-trick on his debut aged just 17. A fine all-round sportsman, he also played a full game in goal for the U's.

3. Kevin McCurley (1952-60)
McCurley's tally of 97 Football League goals still leaves him fifth in the all-time goal list, and his tally of 29 in a single season has only been bettered four times. Signed to replace Newcastle-bound Keeble for £750 from Liverpool, where he hadn't quite made the grade, his aerial prowess was his real strength.

2. Martyn King (1956-64)
King is the club's record Football League goalscorer with 131 to his credit during his time with the club, though most came in a five-year spell. He scored five hat-tricks and hit the back of the net four times in a club record 9-1 win over Bradford City alongside fellow striker Bobby Hunt in 1961. Between them they scored more than 150 goals in three seasons to become the club's most deadly strike duo.

1. Tony Adcock (1981-87 & 1995-99)
Another No9 with two spells at the club, 'Rooster' was a typical fox-in-the-box striker, sniffing out goalscoring opportunities. With five hat-tricks under his belt he is the club's all-time leading goalscorer with 149 goals to his name. His prowess led him to a place in the Hall of Fame not just at Colchester but at Peterborough, too!

And the worst…
Adrian Coote (2001-03)
Signed for a club joint-record fee of £50,000 from Norwich, the former Northern Ireland international scored just four times in 36 appearances across nearly two years at the club. The burden of expectation in the face of the record fee was just too much and he eventually ended up in non-league football.

Follow Graeson on Twitter @Laitty