Alan Smith - who has recently been better known for acquiring yellow cards than anything else - produced an out-of-the-blue performance on Saturday matching Zola's only other five assist game

Having fallen behind Rooney and Beattie in the England pecking-order, it is easy to forget that just two years ago he became the most recent player 20 years old or under at the season-end to record a total of at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a season. (Jermain Defoe with 8 of each is the closest to reaching that level this year)

As the table shows, early success does not guarantee long-term prosperity. Kevin Gallen managed just two assists the following year and has never subsequently played in the Premier league: Heskey has repeated the feat in just one of the six following seasons and is unlikely (5/5) to reach that level this campaign. A similar story applies to Keane - although an extended run at Tottenham appears to be helping. Even Owen has never again recaptured the exceptional form he showed as a teenager, particularly in terms of creating goals for others

So unless the new manager at Leeds can work some magic, this occurrence may be no more than a blip on a disappointing career. After all, he still has only two pretty meaningless goals to his credit this season

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