St Albans City’s scrapheap of forgettable strikers just got a little bit bigger.

Elliott Buchanan, the former Bromley, Stevenage and Newport County front man, has joined Staines Town today, consigning his name to the long line of strikers – some promising, others not so much – to pass through Clarence Park without making an impact.

To say joint managers James Gray and Graham Golds have had bad luck in finding strikers would be an understatement.

Of course I’m discounting John Frendo from this. Signing the former Hitchin Town talisman was a master-stroke from Gray and Golds and he continued to be prolific in a City shirt last year, scoring over 40 goals in all competitions. And there’s nothing to suggest he won’t be again this season.

And a move to one striker with attacking midfielders, such as Sean Shields and Steve Wales, in support will undoubtedly yield goals.

But consider this: since taking the reins of the Saints, Gray and Golds have deployed Frendo, Greg Ngoyi, Elliot Bailey, Peter Dean, Mark Nwokeji, George Sykes, Jamal Lowe, Buchanan, Victor Osobu, Warren McBean, Loick Pires and Warren Whitely at the spearhead of their attack.

In fact, it could be argued that since Ngoyi was forced to leave for work commitments, City have not found a striker to play second fiddle to Frendo. Nwokeji was excellent in putting in the hard miles and running beyond the defence but three league goals is hardly the return that was expected.

Buchanan showed promise in pre-season, enough to earn a spot in the squad after impressing at a trialist. I even wrote that he deserved that spot after a two-goal performance against Dagenham and Redbridge.

But when the competitive matches rolled around his game tailed off. A goal against Ware in the Herts Charity Cup was the only time he found the net in three starts and two substitute appearances. It spoke volumes that Frendo was picked ahead of him for the Staines game despite barely featuring in pre-season.

So, Gray and Golds are back to square one, saying they don’t want to rely on Frendo to score all the goals but unable to find another striker to help him out.

The Saints still have Loick Pires to call upon but since his goal-of-the-season contender against Ware he hasn’t looked too threatening when coming off the bench. And, of course, Elliot Bailey is still around, although his chances to play will be limited by his inexperience.

And there is still a chance that Gray and Golds will bring in another striker.

Whether Pires and Bailey, or any new front man, can find the net consistently is yet to be seen. One thing is for certain, if they don’t take their chances they will join the likes of ‘what’s his face’ on City’s scrapheap of forgettable strikers.