EXCLUSIVE Meet the FA Cup top scorer you've never heard of: Project manager and dad-of-four Gary Lockyer gets his glory after years of sacrifice - and reveals the secrets to his prolific form
Step aside, Erling Haaland. There's a new goalscoring sensation in town.
That's because Gary Lockyer, who plies his trade for eighth-tier Ashford United, has the unlikely honour of being this season's FA Cup top scorer.
The father-of-four, 32, works for a telecoms company in his day job but has still found the time to score 10 goals in England's historic competition this season.
Through five preliminary and qualifying rounds, the fairytale ending with a third qualifying round exit to Chertsey Town, Lockyer filled his boots with enough goals to put himself on the brink of history.
Unless James McAtee, Nico O'Reilly, Eberechi Eze, or Ismaila Sarr score eight in Saturday's final between Manchester City and Crystal Palace, Lockyer will be officially crowned as the standalone Golden Ball Award winner in partnership with Mitre. The FA Cup's top scorer. It's the stuff of non-league dreams.
'It's a very proud moment. Surreal, really,' Lockyer tells Mail Sport from Thomas Tuchel 's seat at Wembley. 'It's something I've been joking around about with my friends. You grow up wanting to play in this competition, the oldest and most magic of competitions. We just dream of getting to the first round.
'We started back in August (against Egham Town, a 3-0 win). I started to take notice of what we could really achieve when I scored four against Three Bridges, which we won 6-1. My aim from there was to get to 10, because that felt a figure no one could really get to.'
Ten indeed seemed an optimistic but proven number to aim for - last season's winner, JJ Lacey of Biggleswade Town, also reached that total and was presented with his prize by Dion Dublin at the home of football last season.
Lockyer will be at Wembley on Saturday with his wife and two of his boys and will be presented with his award. His daughter would've loved to have been there but is actually playing in a tournament with Brighton's Under-12s.
It's a football-mad family (Lockyer's a Manchester United fan), but it didn't start off that way. Lockyer was a late bloomer with this manic game, only getting into it at 10 years old when a friend invited him to watch a game in Kennington, South London.
Little did he know that day would birth such a devotion for a sport which can demand so much. The forward had trials at Charlton and Aldershot but never went through the academy system and has instead hardened his spirit with hundreds of non-league games - and all the boggy pitches, squalid changing rooms, and rough play it entails.
Lockyer's commitment to his craft has been balanced alongside night shifts and often missing out on a special rite of fatherhood: watching his kids play.
'It's a lot of commitment,' he admits. 'But I want to keep pushing myself and be the best version of myself in terms of football.
'It can be quite tough. I used to go to work at night. I'd train on a Tuesday, work, drive home and get there at six o'clock in the morning, get four hours of sleep, then I'd have to get up.
A golden tribute to the top goal-scorers of the 2024/25 @AdobeWFACup and @EmiratesFACup
Forged by the hands at @ThomasLyte, each Trophy, is an exact replica of the @MitreSports Ultimax Pro match ball. So we went behind the scenes to find out how these are made.... pic.twitter.com/1CyKGoMfjN
— Mitre Sports (@MitreSports) May 13, 2025
Can anyone surpass him in the final between Man City and Crystal Palace? 'I don't think so!'
'Credit to my wife, she drives my daughter to Brighton and Hove on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. She's been supportive since day one. I kiss my wedding ring before I take it off to go out and play.
'She followed me home and away right up until she started taking my daughter to football. It's going to be a great day Saturday for her to be here.'
Ashford United, in Kent, all the way down in the Isthmian League Division One South East, play in front of an average audience of 389 fans. That's 231 times less than Wembley's capacity.
But speaking to Lockyer, a project manager in daily life, his professionalism shines through. There are thousands of players at his level - ones who slipped through the net, ones who the net never caught, ones working every day to catch the eye of a club higher in the pyramid - and you'd be a fool to underestimate their dedication or talent.
Declan Howe of Gainsborough Trinity and Harvey Sayer of Lowestoft Town deserve shout-outs; they've scored eight in this season's FA Cup, giving Lockyer a run for his money.
The beauty of the FA Cup is that it allows these nearlymen to dream. And to test themselves. To live, for a day, the life of a professional footballer when they get a big away tie. A life they very much live in spirit with how they eat, how they train, how they think about the game.
The Golden Ball Award in Partnership with Mitre shines a light on these local heroes and gives them a chance to share the stage with the modern greats. Lockyer only lives a mile or two from Ashford's Homelands Stadium. There, he's an icon.
'You need that psychology of being the best,' Lockyer insists.
'You have to grow up very quick in non-league because it's obviously a bit of a difference to under-23s, under-18s football. The academy people do come out and struggle sometimes.
'You've got you've got fully grown guys that are going to work and give you a bit of stick and you've got to be able to take that.
'You have to have that mindset of, let's get the stats up and try to get a move. Being the best you can.'
Someone is clearly having a lot of fun with the sound system at Wembley because our chat keeps being interrupted with motivational music blasting across the stands.
On Saturday, as that music plays out, Lockyer will look across the turf and feel a small part of the story. The FA Cup is for everyone.
Haaland will be aiming for an eighth trophy at City in three seasons. He'll knock over records like dominoes in the years to come.
But will he be able to say that he knocked Gary Lockyer of Ashford United off his perch in the 2024-25 FA Cup campaign? Our striker smiles and his eyes light up. 'I don't think so.'
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