TYLER Smith would gladly have taken eight goals by the start of November if it had been offered to him when he began his loan spell at Barrow AFC during the summer.

Smith, who is with the Bluebirds until the New Year on loan from Sheffield United, became their outright top scorer on Tuesday night, with his consolation header at Harrogate Town moving him ahead of Jack Hindle.

The 19-year-old managed to impress in the 4-2 defeat at Wetherby Road, as he was one of the few AFC players whose head did not go down when the game rapidly went away from them.

Smith is, however, out of today’s match at Ebbsfleet United with a tight hamstring, with Hindle the only fit striker available to Barrow manager Ian Evatt, as Rhys Turner, Jacob Blyth and Nathan Waterston are also on the sidelines.

Smith said: “I said my target when I arrived at Barrow was double figures and I’m just two away from that now, so I’m on track and in a team that doesn’t always create as much as it should.

“We’re in mid-table and for me to get what I’ve got by this stage is good.

“If we were towards the top end of the National League, where you’re creating about 12 chances or so a game, then I may have scored more, but I’ll happily take eight goals at this stage of the season.”

Smith has wished his teammates all the best down at Ebbsfleet, as they look to put a poor run of four straight defeats behind them at a club who are going through financial difficulties.

“We’ve got to bounce back and get a result because the performances we’ve produced lately haven’t been good enough,” Smith said.

“It’s happened a few times where we’ve come into half-time 1-0 up, but we concede early doors in the second half, especially away from home.

“To concede three goals in about five minutes like we did at Harrogate means we’re giving ourselves an uphill climb.”