Audley Boyd, Assistant Sports Editor

Shelton

SAINTE-LUCE, Martinique:

SEVERAL years ago when Luton Shelton forced his way into the national senior team, thoughts of becoming the nation's leading all-time scoring leader never rested on his mind.

In practically four short years and only 52 matches, Shelton is now king of the hill, after scoring twice against Antigua and Barbuda to lead Jamaica to a 3-1 win, in their Digicel Caribbean Cup match at the Riviére Pilote Stadium here on Saturday night.

Shelton netted at the 14th to tie the record of 29 held by Paul 'Tegat' Davis, then took the record all for himself by moving to 30 when he broke away to score past Ronson Wiliams, the Antiguan goalie, at the 37th minute.

"I feel good about it because I went into the game knowing that I was on 28 goals, tied up with a couple of players from the old times who played for us," admitted Shelton.

breaking the record

"I went into the game with the mindset to make sure I tried to get at least one goal today, actually I got two, so I was pleased with myself and pleased to know that I got the first goal to move our team forward, to get a win to make sure that we move on to the next game."

He added: "When I just started playing for the national team I didn't know that I would've achieved something like this, but it's quite good for me and I hope that I can continue to score more to extend the record.

"I never ever thought of breaking the record maybe until I reached it. My dad said to take the record, set your own record and have your own name there so that everyone can come and see that you did a lot for the national team," noted Shelton, shortly after the game on Saturday night.

The striker, who represents Norwegian division one team, Valarenga FC and represented Harbour View Football Club and Wolmer's High School in his junior years, says he hasn't set any goals for the future, as far as extending his record is concerned.

"It's up to me what I want, it's up to me to continue scoring," said Shelton, who turned 25 on November 11. "I don't set a goal to see how many goals I want to score for Jamaica, playing every game and trying to score goals is more important and that's the way I am, I try to score every game."