Greg Gardner came to the Premier League without much of a reputation but when he started plying his trade for Harbour View, his acclaim grew.

Known as an intelligent striker, with good work ethic and an eye for scoring important goals, Gardner was instrumental in helping Harbour View to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League title and all other titles they hunted three years ago. Before that he was known as a dangerous player for Constant Spring.

Then the striker inexplicably disappeared. Nothing was heard of him, he went to being one of the top strikers in the island to being a memory in a season.

The other day, I watched Sporting Central and to my surprise, pleasant surprise I may add, I saw Gardner sitting on the bench. While I wondered why such a talented player would find himself on the bench of a team just into top-flight football, I also felt heartened at Sporting’s chances of making the league even more competitive.

Gardner is fast, he is strong for a small player and he is aggressive. He heads in one direction and that is goalward and he isn’t afraid to try those things that change games.

It was after seeing him on the bench for Sporting that I found out what happened to the striker.

When he left Harbour View, he went to little-known Arlington and at the end of the season two years ago, he broke his ankle, one of the most dangerous injuries a footballer can have.

After Arlington’s relegation from the Premier League after just one season, Gardner was left with a broken foot, an impending surgery and loads of uncertainty.

However, Gardner might be back in the Spotlight, because he has begun to get some playing time with Sporting Central and in fact, scored an 85^th minute goal in their emphatic 5-2 win over Reno this week.

The hope is that Gardner begins to get even more playing time because he has much to offer, and Sporting’s coach, former national player, Christopher Dawes, knows talent when he sees it.

In fact, the week before Gardner started for Sporting Central against Arnett Gardens. He came on in at half time in the game against Reno, and is expected to start again in Sporting’s fixture against his old club, Harbour View, at Compound on March 2, barring other injuries.

It isn’t normal for someone with just one goal to make the Spotlight, however, such is the man’s talent that he might just be making headlines once again.