BOB Taylor would rather not be reminded of the fact that he goes into tomorrow's game against Crewe looking for the 200th goal of his career. The Wanderers' top scorer, who was on target when the teams drew 4-4 at Gresty Road, is worried the milestone could become a millstone, judging by events at St Andrew's.

Having been a thorn in Birmingham's side so often during his West Brom days and taking just 15 seconds to inflict another wound when Wanderers beat the Blues 3-1 at the Reebok in September, he didn't get so much of a sniff of a goal.

"I don't want it to turn into a jinx," Taylor said, determined not to let the quest for the double century become a burden.

"It was a nightmare last week. I didn't realise I was on 199 until someobody told me." Any striker who has been rattling in the goals for more than a decade shouldn't be in the nervous 190s for too long.

Surprisingly for such a player famed for his boyhood enthusiasm, Taylor struggled for a moment to recall the first goal of his career until it all came flooding back.

"I think it was against Barnsley when I was playing for Leeds . . . first game of the season as I recall," he suggested rather unconvincingly.

Bang on target again Bob! The goal was at Barnsley on August 16, 1987 in a 1-1 draw in front of 9,778.

Here's to the next!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.