Where Garner sits among Carlisle United's third-tier scorers

And Joe Garner’s return to goalscoring form has also seen him move further up a list of all-time Blues scorers.

The veteran striker is now fourth in the chart of Carlisle’s third-tier goalscorers.

The 35-year-old’s two this season means he has scored 28 league goals at this level in a United shirt.

That puts him level with Lee Miller, three behind Gordon Staniforth, four adrift of Paul Bannon and eight shy of the record holder – Garner’s former team-mate Danny Graham.

Garner's former team-mate Danny Graham is United's leading third-tier scorer since the four-division system began in the 1950s (Image: Louise Porter)

He holds the 36-goal record for United in the third tier, in the four-division system which came into operation in 1958.

Graham’s prolific exploits saw him rack up the goals in the 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09 campaigns for the Blues.

Bannon, meanwhile, got 32 in Division Three between 1979 and 1982.

Former record signing Staniforth’s 31 goals at this level came in the same period.

Gordon Staniforth his 31 of his 33 United league goals in the Third Division (Image: News & Star)

And target man Miller chipped in with 28 from 2011 to 2014.

Garner has 30 league goals in total for United, two of them coming in the fourth tier during last season’s promotion push.

In terms of third-tier football, he is ahead of other impressive scorers at this level on the United list such as Phil Bonnyman (25), James Berrett (23), Peter Beardsley (21), David Kemp (21) and Pop Robson (21).

Garner’s goals have come across four different spells at United during his career – 2006/07, 2007/08, 2012/13 and 2022/23+.

Garner celebrates his goal at Stevenage (Image: Barbara Abbott)

His last-minute header at Stevenage meant the frontman has reached the 150-goal career milestone, something acknowledged and appreciated by manager Paul Simpson after Saturday’s 2-2 draw.

“It shows that he’s got an incredible desire to score goals,” the Blues boss said of Garner.

“There’s a lot of players, particularly now with modern-day players…they don’t see the value in scoring goals.

“It is a massive part of it. If you’ve got that it doesn’t half give you a great career.

“To have scored 150 goals is a brilliant achievement, and hopefully there’s more to come.”

CARLISLE UNITED’S RECORD THIRD-TIER GOALSCORERS*

Danny Graham 36

Paul Bannon 32

Gordon Staniforth 31

Joe Garner 28

Lee Miller 28

Phil Bonnyman 25

James Berrett 23

David Kemp 21

Peter Beardsley 21

Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson 21

Liam Noble 20

Matty Robson 20

Ian Harte 19

Francois Zoko 19

Johnny Evans 18

*under the four-tier system introduced in 1958. If we’re including the Division Three North days from the previous three decades, club record scorer Jimmy McConnell is way out in front with an incredible 126 league goals from 1928-32, with Jimmy Whitehouse also on three figures with 100. Other honourable mentions from that era include Alan Ashman (99), Ivor Broadis (83), Davie Hutchinson (62), Ian Atkinson (57), Alf Ackerman (54), Bill Slinger (53), Jack Lindsay (48), Joe Mantle (38) and Sam Hunt (33).