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IT'S now 57 years since Alex McCrae became the last Boro forward to hit the 20-goal mark in the top flight, but could Afonso Alves be the man to end the long wait in 2008-09?

A forward who lived in the shadow of the great Wilf Mannion at Ayresome Park, McCrae hit 21 goals in 1950-51 as a talented Boro side challenged for the league title, only to fade in the run-in.

A £10,000 signing from Charlton, the Scot hit the 20 mark before the New Year, scoring the opener in a 3-3 home draw with Burnley on December 30, his 25th game of the campaign.

Injury and loss of form - for player and club - resulted in just one goal during the remainder of the season but McCrae, pictured below, had set down a marker.

In Boro's 26 top division seasons since then, the likes of Wilf Mannion, Lindy Delapenha, David Mills, Bernie Slaven, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Mark Viduka have all tried and failed to reach the magical 20-goal mark.

Mannion and Delapenha both went close in the 1950s but only Alan Foggon, in 1974-75, and Ravanelli, in 1996-97, have topped even 15 top flight league goals since then.

Has anyone been more capable of taking up the gauntlet than Afonso Alves? On signing for Boro for a club record fee in January, the Brazilian boasted 45 goals in his last 38 games for Heerenveen in Holland's top division, the Eredivisie.

After an acclimatisation period when he was often utilised as a sub, he then gave a tantalising glimpse of what could lie ahead in the Premier League in 2008-09 when he netted six times in as many games at the back end of last season.

Between the Dutch and English top flights over the past two seasons the 27-year-old now boasts an incredible record of 51 goals in his last 45 league starts.

It's a big ask, but if Alves plays the majority of Boro's league games this season then he can afford to drop his goals-to-games ratio by half and still hit the magical 20 mark.

BORO'S TOP FLIGHT TOP SCORERS, 1951-2007 (league goals only)

1950-51 - Alex McCrae 21
1951-52 - Lindy Delapenha 15
1952-53 - Wilf Mannion 18
1953-54 - Lindy Delapenha 18
1974-75 - Alan Foggon 16
1975-76 - John Hickton 9
1976-77 - David Mills 15
1977-78 - David Mills 10
1978-79 - Micky Burns 14
1979-80 - David Armstrong 11
1980-81 - Bosco Jankovic 12
1981-82 - Billy Ashcroft and Heine Otto 4
1988-89 - Bernie Slaven 15
1992-93 - Paul Wilkinson 14
1995-96 - Nick Barmby 7
1996-97 - Fabrizio Ravanelli 16
1998-99 - Hamilton Ricard 15
1999-00 - Hamilton Ricard 12
2000-01 - Alen Boksic 12
2001-02 - Alen Boksic 8
2002-03 - Massimo Maccarone 9
2003-04 - Szilard Nemeth 9
2004-05 - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 13
2005-06 - Yakubu 13
2006-07 - Mark Viduka 14
2007-08 - Stewart Downing 9

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