7 goals in 6 games for Southampton’s bargain striker Austin
LONDON — As the goals have dried up for Jamie Vardy at Leicester, another former non-league striker has embarked on a hot scoring streak for a Premier League club.
Charlie Austin made it seven goals in six games in all competitions for Southampton with a double in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Burnley that took the south-coast club up to eighth in the standings.
In a career that began outside England’s four professional leagues, Burnley provided the 27-year-old Austin with one of his stepping stones to the world’s richest soccer competition.
Austin was a bricklayer working a full day on a building site before playing on a part-time basis for Poole Town in the ninth tier until 2009. It took third-tier club Swindon to pluck Austin from obscurity, for Burnley to take him up another league and then QPR to give him a shot at the Premier League.