My goal ended up in New York Times

THERE are a few days in Jonathan Smith's life that he knows he may never get back.

A severe clash of heads with the Droylsden goalkeeper towards the end of Accrington Stanley's UniBond championship-winning season two years ago left the central defender with temporary memory loss.

Smith had no recollection of being married, let alone the fact that wife Donna was due to give birth to their first child any day.

But, once he had regained his senses, being desperate to be involved in the Reds' next game speaks volumes for the fearless player who is virtually unrecognisable without a black eye or facial scar of some description after 90 minutes on a pitch.

Stanley were coming to the glorious conclusion of a season in which they had shown little mercy. John Coleman's men were only a handful of points away from securing the UniBond Premier title, and subsequent promotion to the Nationwide Conference, while the chance to hit treble figures in both the points and goals scored categories was also on the cards.

Smith had played a pivitol part in their success, and he wasn't about to miss out on crossing the finishing line.

"We'd got a backlog of fixtures because we'd done well in the cups so we ended up having to play on a Saturday and Sunday," the 28-year-old explained.

"Against Droylsden on the Saturday I went for a challenge with the keeper to try to score and there was a horrible clash of heads.

"He jumped up and the top of his head hit me right in the face.

"I ended up with a broken nose, fractured cheekbone, lost two teeth, had concussion and needed stitches.

"I don't remember any of it, but from what I've been told, I wanted to carry on.

"Andy Procter said I picked my teeth up, put them in the referee's top pocket and asked him to look after them.

"But when I went for another header, I thumped it 50 yards and that was it. I was out like a light."

Smith regained consciousness in the dressing room and was taken to a Manchester hospital. But when he remembered Donna and her impending labour, he wanted to discharge himself straight away.

Doctors managed to delay him until the day after, but instead of putting his feet up at home, Donna drove him to Stanley's crucial game at Whitby Town.

"I couldn't remember anything from having breakfast the Wednesday before to coming round after the accident on the Saturday, and that was quite scary," he recalled.

"Donna was due to give birth to our daughter, Holly, that week. I looked like the Elephant Man, but she wanted to go to the game just as much as I did.

"The week after we played Altrincham at home and just needed a point to win the league. I played when I probably shouldn't have, but I'd been involved in nearly every game so I couldn't miss out on that one."

He'd scored some important goals to get into that position too. In Stanley's UniBond First Division title winning season in 1999-2000, Smith was on target in their 10-1 rout over Lincoln United - the club's biggest ever win.

He then ended the campaign on a high by hitting the first in their 3-0 win over Farsley Celtic in front of 2,468 supporters to secure promotion back to the Premier Division.

Thankfully, though, his goalscoring celebrations had become much more muted.

As a shy 17-year-old, he hit the headlines and even appeared on television as a result of banter between his Darwen team-mates.

It was around the time when top flight footballers had begun a trend of whipping their shirts over their heads after a goal.

"We were playing at Eastwood Hanley on April Fool's Day and said that whoever scored had to do something stupid," Smith explained.

"I scored with a header in about the 60th minute and one of the older lads was egging me on to take my shorts off, so I did and waved them above my head.

"I was trying to get them back on before the game kicked off again and the referee came over and booked me for an over-elaborate celebration.

"The Lancashire Evening Telegraph ran a story with a picture of me on the front page the week after, then the Sun got hold of it and it spiralled from there.

"The Big Breakfast came to film me at my house, when the programme was in its heyday with Gaby Roslin and Chris Evans presenting it. It was in Loaded magazine, Reuters news agency reported it and it ended up on the back page of the New York Times.

"But that was my last goal of the season and I still got fined £6 by the club, despite all the publicity that the club got."

Smith, who lives in Darwen, ended his association with his local side at the end of that season and joined Great Harwood, where he spent two years with them in the UniBond League before being signed by Accrington Stanley in 1999.

Since then the former Darwen Moorland High School pupil has enjoyed an incredible journey with the Reds, from the UniBond First Division to the top 10 in the Nationwide Conference, with an FA Cup run in between which Smith hopes will be repeated after today's fourth qualifying round tie with Leigh RMI.

But his spell with Stanley hasn't been without its upsets.

"The night we won the UniBond First Division title, there was a big party at my house," said Smith, who might have carved out a career in goal had his PE teacher not discovered he could head the ball when he was 14.

"I have a pond in my back garden and my koi carp was my prized possession.

"We were all outside and the champagne was flowing, the next thing we knew there was a big splash. Mark Brennan had fallen into the pond and made a two-footed challenge on my fish.

"It died about a week later!"

The carp was never replaced, but Smith at least hopes there will be many more reasons to crack open the Moet.

After returning from a loan spell with Barrow earlier in the season, Smith was delighted to force his way back into Coleman's first team plans.

He is determined now, more than ever, to fight to stay there.

"One thing that hurt me this season was my squad number," said Smith. "I've always been number five, but now I'm number 15 and other people have got a shirt before me. I got the idea that I wasn't in his first team plans and the writing was on the wall.

"But since I've come back, John's given me a chance and I feel like I've taken it with both hands.

"I'm loving every minute of it and I want it to carry on."