'An incredible journey' - Taylor joins list of scorers in top five tiers

Jack Taylor joined Ipswich Town following their promotion to the Championship in 2023

Jack Taylor joined a select group of players when he scored an injury-time winner for Ipswich against Wolves, netting in England's top five leagues.

The 26-year-old scored in League Two and the National League for Barnet, League One and the Championship for Peterborough and then the Championship and Premier League for Ipswich Town.

He joined the Tractor Boys from Posh in June 2023.

Taylor becomes the second Ipswich player to bag in the top five leagues - along with Republic of Ireland team-mate Sammie Szmodics.

This season, captain Sam Morsy and midfielder Conor Chaplin joined a bigger list of players to score in the top four divisions.

"Last week, his [Taylor's] first start in the Premier League coming from Barnet in the National League, was a testament to him, the group and the staff to how they work every day," said boss Kieran McKenna.

"To not start today, he was disappointed but as the top professional and person he is he understood.

"To come [on] and make the impact was brilliant for him and from him. Six of the starting team were with us in League One 18 months ago. The group has been on an incredible journey."

BBC Sport looks at some other players who like Taylor have scored in the National League upwards.

Gary Hooper

Gary Hooper is still playing for Kettering and added to his record in October

Gary Hooper has the best record of all - netting in the top SEVEN divisions in England.

The 36-year-old scored in the Conference South and Conference National for Grays Athletic in the mid-2000s.

He scored in League One for Southend (plus Leyton Orient), Hereford in League Two and Scunthorpe in League One and the Championship.

After a prolific spell in Scotland for Celtic, he netted six Premier League goals for Norwich in 2013-14 before scoring more Championship goals for the Canaries and Sheffield Wednesday.

Hooper also went on to score in the Australian league, India, Cyprus and the UAE - before netting twice for Barnet in the National League last season.

And he was not finished as he joined Kettering in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central (the seventh tier) this season and scored in a win over Stourbridge in October to add to his record.

Steve Finnan

Steve Finnan is one of three Republic of Ireland players to score in the top five leagues in England

Former Republic of Ireland right-back Steve Finnan netted for Welling United in the Conference, as it was then known, before jumping up to the second tier where he scored for Birmingham.

He scored in the third and then fourth tier for Notts County as he appeared to be dropping down the leagues.

But a move to Fulham saw him net in the third and second tiers.

Finnan finally moved up to the Premier League and scored precisely one goal in 236 Premier League appearances, for Liverpool in a 3-0 win over West Brom in 2004.

Jimmy Willis

Sadly for Jimmy Willis (l) this is the only photo we have available of his time at Leicester

Precise stats for Jimmy Willis' career are sketchy from the 1980s and 1990s but we will take his word for it.

"I was watching television when I heard the Sky News presenter say that Steve Finnan was the only player to have scored in the top five divisions of English football," he is quoted as saying in Liverpool Echo article from 2007.

"I thought 'I'm sure I've done that'.

"I've kept all my old my cuttings so I had a look, and it was there in black and white."

The defender netted for Darlington in the Conference and fourth tier and then Leicester in the second tier and Premier League, scoring twice in 1994-95.

He got his third tier goal in a loan spell at Bradford.

Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates has been a Nottingham Forest player all his career, with some of his goals coming out on loan

Nottingham Forest captain Ryan Yates, 27, has scored in the top five divisions too.

He has netted in the Championship and Premier League, with both top-flight goals coming in 2024, for Forest.

But before that he scored in loan spells with Barrow (National League), Notts County (League Two) and Scunthorpe (League One).

Sammie Szmodics

Sammie Szmodics joined the top-five-tiers club this season

Sammie Szmodics was the first Ipswich player, before Taylor, to manage the feat this season.

He scored in League One and then League Two for Colchester - with a National League goal on loan at Braintree in between.

He netted in League One and the Championship for Peterborough, then more Championship goals for Blackburn and then joined Ipswich in the summer.

The first of his three Premier League goals came in their 4-1 defeat by Manchester City in August.