YORK City striker Andy Bishop has stated his intention to join an elite ten-strong group of Minstermen marksmen.

Having netted 20 first-team goals this season with his hat-trick against Forest Green Rovers, Bishop is now targeting the same landmark in the league.

The 23-year-old striker has currently netted 17 times in the Conference and, should he score three more goals in City's remaining 11 matches, he will become the 11th post-War City player to reach 20 in a league season and only the 16th to hit the landmark figure in the club's history.

Bishop will also become only the third player in the last 20 years to achieve the feat, following in the footsteps of modern greats Paul Barnes and Keith Walwyn.

But the late Walwyn still stands out supreme in the City record books, being the only player in City's history to net 20 times in a league season on four separate occasions.

Barnes and Happy Wanderers' pair Arthur Bottom and Billy Fenton are the only other players to reach the magical figure three times since the War with Reg Baines matching that achievement before the outbreak of hostilities. Paul Aimson managed it twice in 1964/65 and 1970/71.

Bottom and left-winger Fenton also struck up the most lethal league partnership in the Minstermen's history during the 1954/55 season, proving their goalscoring exploits were not just reserved for the magical run to the FA Cup semi-finals.

A 31-goal haul by Bottom was supplemented by 22 from Fenton in Division Three North

Bottom's effort equalled Fenton's 1951/52 tally for most City league goals in a season.

Bottom also netted 31 league goals in 1955/56 and that figure has neither been matched nor bettered in the last 50 years with winger Jimmy Weir coming closest when he struck 28 times in the 1961/62 season.

Aside from the 1954/55 season, the only other campaign in which two City strikers scored 20 goals or more came in 1983/84 when John Byrne (27) and Walwyn (25) fired Denis Smith's record-breaking side to the old fourth division title.

Bishop, meanwhile, could be back in international action after the Conference season has finished.

A Four Nations Tournament has been scheduled to take place between May 23 and May 27 at three venues in Sussex between the England National Game XI side and other teams from Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

Updated: 10:22 Saturday, March 04, 2006