This season, Prostate Cancer UK is the official charity of the Football League. To celebrate, each week footballer-turned-journalist Adrian Clarke - who played for Arsenal, Rotherham, Southend, Carlisle and Stevenage - is rounding up the best performances by No9s in the Football League, in recognition of the fact that prostate cancer affects one in nine men. In week nine (Saturday 13 October), he highlights a player who may not be too welcome in his home city for a while and a striker looking to impress his new manager...

Town flyer: Swindon striker James Collins earned his team a point. Photo courtesy of Action Images

 

League One star No9
James Collins - Swindon Town

Why?
Scoring a crucial goal against the club you supported as a boy tends to bring out contrasting emotions in footballers. Some choose not to celebrate out of respect, while others go absolutely crazy. It's fair to say Collins chose the latter option after netting against his beloved Sky Blues, removing his No9 shirt, swinging it round his head and throwing it into the air before being bundled to the ground by his delighted team-mates.
It's little wonder they were happy, as Paolo Di Canio's men had retrieved a two-goal deficit to snatch a point thanks to Collins' 80th-minute equaliser. It was a fabulous strike - a bullet right-foot volley from 11 yards that gave the keeper no chance. The silly yellow card Collins picked up for removing his shirt will probably have felt worth it.

Did you know?
As a youth team player at Aston Villa, Collins was known as Jim or James Collins Jnr to avoid being confused with the other James Collins at Villa - the Welsh international centre-half who is now at West Ham.

No9s bagged 4 of the 30 League One goals this week, which was just over 13 per cent of the weekend's total

League Two star No9
Byron Harrison - AFC Wimbledon

Why?
The club record signing hasn't quite lived up to his star billing since joining AFC Wimbledon for a five-figure fee in January, but with three goals in successive matches, and six in total this term, he's fast becoming the main man at Kingsmeadow. On Saturday, in front of new boss Neal Ardley, Harrison couldn't prevent the Dons from slipping to a 2-1 defeat at home to Cheltenham, but he was in the thick of the action throughout the match.
First, he blasted over when it was still 0-0, then, with the Dons 2-0 down late on, he angled a powerful header into the top corner from eight yards. It was a mixed bag from the tall 25-year-old Londoner, but you can't do much more than score in your new manager's first match in charge.

Did you know?
With a tasty record of 13 goals in 18 appearances, the Dons No9 loves the FA Cup and scored back-to-back hat-tricks for Carshalton Athletic in the 2010-11 competition.  

It wasn't a vintage weekend for League Two No9s, who scored just four goals - including two penalties - amounting to 12 per cent of the division's goals

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