Jamie Cureton: Kings Park Rangers striker scores in all 10 tiers of English football

The biggest concern for any striker is finding the net - but for Jamie Cureton, getting his first goal for Kings Park Rangers meant more than most.

When Cureton, 50, joined the step-six side earlier this month, he hadn't realised that a goal in the Eastern Counties League Division One North would 'complete' his already-impressive haul.

But on Saturday, Cureton got his first goal for Kings Park Rangers - meaning he has now scored in all of the top 10 tiers of the English football pyramid.

"I could have been at Wembley - anywhere - and I would have still celebrated in the exact same way," Cureton told BBC Sport.

"It was a great feeling."

Across a staggering 32 successive seasons as a professional football player, Cureton has ticked off much of the English football bingo card.

Managed by Alan Pardew, Martin O'Neill and Ian Holloway, he's also earned promotions with Reading and Queens Park Rangers, and won the Championship Golden Boot at Colchester United.

His tour of football has taken him all across southern England, from Exeter City to Colchester via his hometown club Bristol Rovers, Swindon Town, Leyton Orient and a brief trip north to Barnsley.

It has also taken him overseas, with a stint at South Korean side Busan I'Cons.

He got his first goal, aged 19, for Norwich City in 1994 - when England captain Harry Kane was just one year old.

"I've just loved scoring goals," Cureton told BBC Sport.

"Each one is as special as the next one.

"I've always tried to celebrate any goal I score - whether I was in training, whether I was playing on the park, in school when I was young."

From Lamine Yamal's teen superstardom to Jamie Vardy's sharp rise in maturity, the number of routes a professional footballer's career can take are wide-ranging - but they usually head in the same direction.

What makes Cureton's unique is that the Bristol-born striker, who was capped for England at under-18 level, started his career at the very top with Norwich in the Premiership.

From there he headed down the leagues, but his love of the game trumped any pride about where he 'ought' to be playing as he racked up more than 1,000 games across the full length of the English pyramid.

"I think that going from the bottom to the top is probably a lot easier, because you're chasing to get somewhere," Cureton said.

"Coming down is a lot harder because you can get that sort of stigma that you've been at the top and you think 'I don't really want to play there'.

"For me to start at the top, and want to keep playing, not to be worried about what level and just to keep dropping down - that's quite a big achievement for me personally."

Earlier this month, the lively players in the Kings Park Rangers dressing room were as keen as Cureton was to get his 10th-tier goal over the line.

On his debut he assisted Ben Cannell, but a goal of his own escaped him in a 25-minute substitute appearance for the Suffolk side, who are based in Great Cornard.

But on Saturday, Cureton made history against Dussindale & Hellesdon Rovers as he came off the bench to score the fourth goal in a 4-1 win.

Kings Park Rangers heralded the achievement with a post on X: "The legend has completed football!"

After a series of lower-league player-management roles, Cureton signed for the club as a striker in October in the hopes of "getting out of the pressure cooker and just having fun".

But the veteran forward still has his eye on a couple of achievements he'd like to add to his list.

"I'm still about, I think, four or five goals away from 400, so that's one I'd like to chase," Cureton said.

"The club I'm at, we're trying to get promotions, so that's a big aim.

"I've always said, as long as I'm fit enough - and I'm not letting anyone down - then I would still play.

"I'm just playing for fun, because I can and I still enjoy it and love it.

"To top it off with scoring as well is a bonus."

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