Macaulay Langstaff knew what he had to do when Erling Haaland scored a goal against Wolves.
"I was thinking, 'oh Haaland has scored again, so I'd better score today'."
Langstaff was a passenger on the team bus as it traveled around London en route to Dorking.
He and his teammates were watching Manchester City beat Wolves in the early kick-off on their way to the game.
Langstaff was the only player in England's professional leagues who had kept up with the Norwegian in the scoring charts after Haaland's 11th goal in the league.
The name 'non-league Haaland' was quickly pounced on by Langstaff's team-mates, after they were made aware of the stat on social media.
"I know it's just a bit of fun, but it was nice to see my name on the goal scoring charts for the top five leagues and see him top and me level with 10 before Saturday," Langstaff said.
It's crazy to see that. I take a lot of faith from that. It's great to be mentioned in the same sentence as a name like that.
Langstaff wasn't able to add to his tally on Saturday but he is determined to keep up with Haaland.
Langstaff's six goals in five games in August earned him the National League player of the month award.
I want to break my record this season.
He was one of the most sought after players in non-league when he scored 32 goals for Gateshead last season.
Just as Notts were about to sign off on deals for Langstaff and Scott, they appointed a new head coach.
The boss said it was a simple decision to back the double signing after watching highlights and meeting them.
After defeating Covid at the start of the season, Scott has now scored four goals in his past five games and says he will drive on to catch up to Langstaff.
Scott said they both want to score goals.
Scott was asked about Langstaff's start to the season. We don't want that to go to his head.
Langstaff admitted that he has done all he can to adopt elements of the Norwegian's game.
Langstaff said that he watches videos of him and that a lot of what they do is the same.
He tries to recreate what he does on the field. I take a lot of things he does and his movement in the box is amazing. I watch him score a lot of tap-ins and try to take as much of his game as I can.
Langstaff says that Haaland is loved by the boss.
He said that he was shown videos of him all the time and how effective he was.
Williams wants Langstaff to avoid having the pressure put on him to emulate the most potent number 9 in the world at the moment.
The attitude and ideas of the two guys are very similar, even though the levels are far apart.
Two strikers who have landed in a new league and delivered goals galore for their new clubs are the same thing.
Langstaff, who was on the books at Middlesbrough as a junior, admits he never imagined reaching such a level when he went into "early retirement" as a teenager.
He said he liked it. I was getting paid to play football.
I didn't return for pre-season because I didn't want to play anymore. I was at college and I thought I would do something else.
I thought I would go back when I saw my friends playing. I signed my first professional deal with Gateshead in February of last year, after scoring a lot of goals after that, but I can't say why.
A loan spell with Blyth Spartans, followed by a transfer to York City, resulted in a move to Meadow Lane and a return to the English Football League after a four-year absence.
Langstaff said he's more driven than ever.
I'm hungrier and hungrier because of the journey I've been on.
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