AIDAN Connolly has closed the gap to seven points on long-time leader Jon Parkin at the top of The Press Player of the Year standings.

The 22-year-old Scotsman received three points towards the contest as our man of the match during Tuesday night’s 3-2 home win against Southport when he scored his sixth goal of the season, either side of setting up the other two, which also took him to the summit of the assists table on nine.

Dan Parslow (two) and Josh Law (one) also received points as The Press’ second and third-highest rated performers respectively.

Former Dundee United winger Connolly picked up another two bonus points towards the Player of the Month competition after collecting the most man-of-the-match votes from our Twitter poll, but he trails Parslow on that leaderboard.

Latest Press Player of the Year standings: Parkin 31, Connolly 24, Bartlett 17, Newton 16, Law 15, Parslow 15, Moke 14, Bencherif 13, Almond 12, Heslop 11, Ferguson 10, Worsnop 10, Whittle 9, Morgan-Smith 8, Pattison 8, Burn 5, Smith 4, Rankine 3, Rowe 3, Correia 2, Kempster 2, Martin 2.

The Press Player of the Month standings for March: Parslow 7, Connolly 5, Almond 4, Ferguson 3, Bencherif 2, Bartlett 2, Law 1.

Goals: Parkin 25, Newton 8, Connolly 6, Morgan-Smith 5, Heslop 4, Burn 3, Almond 2, Kempster 2, Moke 2, Own Goal 2, Parslow 2, Rankine 2, Correia 1, Felix 1, Ferguson 1, Gray 1, Law 1, Martin 1, Rowe 1.

Assists: Connolly 9, Newton 8, Almond 8, Heslop 5, Parslow 5, Gray 4, Law 4, Morgan-Smith 4, Parkin 4, Martin 3, Moke 3, Whittle 3, Ferguson 3, Bencherif 1, Correia 1, Felix 1, Kempster 1, Pattison 1, Peacock-Farrell 1, Worsnop 1.

Bad boys: Heslop two red, three yellow; Rowe five yellow; Bencherif one red, three yellow; Brown four yellow; Burn, Newton both three yellow; Ferguson one red, one yellow; Connolly, Wharton, Worsnop all two yellow; Parkin one red; Gray, Law, Moke, Smith, Whittle all one yellow.