Crawley Town star nets record-breaking 600,000th football league goal - here's who scored other landmark strikes including Liverpool, Burnley and Norwich City players

Anderson’s strike proved to be the winner for Reds on the final day of the League One season. But it has now become a history-making goal with it being the 600,000th goal in Football League history, according to Søren Elbech, who is @17LawsGuy on X.

Hi X profile says: “Whether for betting, gaming or watching, 17 Laws Guy brings the best data analytics, historical information, fun trivia and timely, accurate stats about soccer.”

On Friday he sent his newsletter around saying the 600,000th goal would be scored – and it turned out it was a Reds star who scored the landmark goal.

But who has scored other landmark goals since the Football League started in 1881?

Søren did all the work and revealed who had scored the 1st, 100,000th, 250,000th and 500,000th goals and here they are:

Goal #1 - September 8, 1888 at 3.47pm by Kenny Davenport (Bolton Wanderers)

Søren said: “It began with a letter, penned and mailed on March 2, 1888, by William McGregor of Aston Villa. He wrote to Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, Stoke and West Bromwich Albion, that "I beg to tender the following suggestion [..]: that ten or twelve of the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home-and-away fixtures each season".

“Three weeks later, the clubs met to informally discuss the proposal and, on April 17 a formal meeting was held during which the Football League was founded. In total, 12 clubs signed up, and opening day was scheduled for Saturday, September 8, 1888, when the following five matches were played: 3.30pm Stoke City 0-2 West Bromwich Albion; 3.30pm Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Aston Villa; 3.45pm Bolton Wanderers 3-6 Derby County; 3.50pm Preston North End 5-2 Burnley; 4.25pm Everton 2-1 Accrington

“At 3.47pm, two minutes into the match at Pikes Lane, Bolton’s Kenny Davenport scored Football League’s historic first goal.

“As soon as Derby had kicked off again, Bolton took possession, and at 3.48pm, Davenport scored his and the League’s second goal! Five more goals were scored in the match before the half-hour mark at 4.15pm, Derby having turned at 0-3 deficit into a 4-3 half-time lead. Another historic first.

“Another first came at 4pm, when Gershon Cox (Aston Villa) scored Football League’s first own goal.”

Goal #100,000 – October 5, 1929 at 3.56pm

Søren said: "Fast forward 41 years, and what started as a single league with 12 clubs had evolved into three divisions (Third Division being split into “North” and “South”) with 88 clubs.

“More than 30,000 fixtures had been played, and on October 5th the first six-digit milestone goal was scored.

Here’s the rub. Researching this requires that

• kickoff times are correctly reported (which, particularly for 2nd half, is uncertain)
• each goal is correctly reported with the minute in which it was scored by whom
• that watches showed time correctly
• that referees kept time correctly

Assuming all the above, each of these five different players could have scored the 100,000th goal:

• Ted Bowen (Northampton): 0-2 in 26th minute of Crystal Palace 1-3 Northampton (kick-off at 3.30pm)
• Bertie Denyer (Swindon): 2-0 in 46th minute of Swindon 6-3 Merthyr (kick-off at 3.00pm)
• Tommy Hunt (Norwich): 1-1 in 41st minute of Norwich 3-1 Exeter (kick-off at 3.15pm)
• Jimmy Martin (Halifax): 3-1 in 46th minute of Darlington 3-2 Halifax (kick-off at 3.00pm)
• Geo rge Stott (Rochdale): 2-2 in 41st minute of South Shields 2-2 Rochdale (kick-off at 3.15pm)

Goal #250,000 – September 17, 1960 at 3.59pm

Søren said: "During World War II, the Football League was paused. The 1939/40 season was abandoned at the outbreak of the War, and the 128 League matches played, and the 382 goals scored, were stricken from the records. The League resumed in 1946 and, after approx. 80,000 matches in total, goal #250,000 rolled around. The regional Third Divisions had been merged to a national one, with a Fourth Division being added. The League now comprised of 92 clubs.

"Along the same lines as for 1929 (and applying 1960 Laws and FA Guidelines), I researched the 250,000th goal, which has four contenders:

• Chris Chilton (Hull): 1-1 in 49th minute of Hull 1-1 Coventry (kick-off at 3.00pm)
• Tommy Cummings (Burnley): an own goal in the 49th minute of Burnley 2-1 Birmingham (kick-off at 3.00pm)
• Derek Kevan (West Bromwich): 0-2 in 49th minute of Nottingham Forest 1-2 West Bromwich (kick-off at 3.00pm)
• Tommy Leishman (Liverpool): 2-1 in 44th minute of Liverpool 3-2 Scunthorpe (kick-off at 3.15pm)

Goal #500,000 – August 8, 2006 at 9.19pm by Gary Taylor-Fletcher (Huddersfield)

Søren said: "With around 172,000 matches played across four divisions and 92 clubs, still, the last milestone divisible by 100,000 was anticipated by media ahead of time, allowing for no doubt that it was scored by Gary Taylor-Fletcher in the 79th minute of Huddersfield 3-0 Rotherham. His goal cemented the victory.

“And it was a beauty – watch it here or in the embedded youtube video.”

Taylor Fletcher told Søren: “I’d just been sent new boots but they never turned up. I ended up in someone else’s pair—a couple of sizes too big—so I shoved on extra sets of socks. In the 79th minute, the cross drops, it lands perfect on my chest and I hit the volley of my lifetime. I knew the second it left my foot it was in.”