#9 Christian Doidge - A
After his release from Bristol Rovers' youth academy, Christian Doidge has worked hard to climb up the football pyramid.
The striker from Newport joined Southampton's youth set-up before joining Bristol Rovers, but faced a setback to his chosen career path when he was released.
His next club were Cwmbran Celtic in the fourth tier of Welsh football, then to fellow fourth division side Croesyceiliog in 2010, before moving up a division in 2011 to play for Barry Town.
He made an instant impression by scoring 16 goals in 16 games in his first season and by January he had netted a further ten times and helped the side to their first Welsh Cup Semi-Final in over a decade. His form prompted interest from Carmarthen Town of the Welsh Premier League, who he joined in January 2013, and he helped his new team to lift the Welsh League Cup.
In August 2014 he made his move back into the English football pyramid with Dagenham and Redbridge in League Two, but was loaned out Dartford in the Conference to gain more experience in January 2015. Upon his return he was a first team regular for Dagenham and won both the Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Year awards as he finished their top goalscorer.
Ambitious Forest Green Rovers were his next move with Christian having to drop down a division to play for the side. He excelled and propelled the team to a third place finish by scoring 25 goals in the campaign and finding the back of the net in their play-off final victory over Tranmere Rovers - with Forest Green taking their place in the Football League for the first time in the process.
Once again he was a key figure for Forest Green and his performances ultimately helped the side to stay up, with his 20 goals seeing his finish fifth in the top scorers chart. A move to Bolton Wanderers was lined up and he was loaned to the Championship club for the first half of the 2018/19 season, but the struggling side were unable to afford the transfer fee and Doidge returned to Nailsworth. In the second half of the season he scored 14 times - putting him joint ninth in the scoring charts - as Forest Green Rovers finished in the play-offs but were eliminated by eventual winners Tranmere Rovers.
Christian joined Hibernian on a three-year deal in June 2019 and has scored twice to date with two well-taken goals in the Betfred Cup, including a lovely chip in a 5-3 win over Greenock Morton.
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