Meet the non-League dentist who's been drilling in the goals! Walton and Hersham striker Eddie Simon has been likened to Man City's Erling Haaland after scoring an English record FOUR successive hat-tricks this season

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EDDIE, EDDIE, EDDIE’ was the cry that rang out around the stadium.

But this was not the Emirates and Arsenal supporters serenading one of their own in Eddie Nketiah. It was in fact the far more humble surroundings of non-League Thatcham Town’s Stacatruc Stadium.

And it was instead the hardy, travelling Walton & Hersham fans showing their affection for talismanic striker Eddie Simon, whose remarkable exploits this season include an English record four successive league hat-tricks and have inspired their bid for a third promotion in a row.

The 26-year-old — once of Brentford’s development centre — is the part-time striker and full-time dentist who has been making Walton as well as his patients smile. And Simon has seen his name travel much further than he could have imagined when he joined the Surrey club in the middle of last season.

His rapid rise has been helped by playing for a forward-thinking club who were thought to have the youngest owners in English football when taken over by a group of 19-year-old university students in 2019, have a popular Tik Tok account and a growing, global fanbase.

Eddie Simon is a dentist and a non-league footballer for Surrey based Walton and Hersham

The 26-year-old was once on Brentford's books before pursuing a career in dentistry

 Simon has scored 43 goals so far this season and is seeking to guide his team to promotion 

Walton stream matches for overseas fans and their final-day title decider at Thatcham was watched at one point by just under 1,200 people, with online viewers from all corners of the world.

Simon has also been helped by Walton’s manager Scott Harris and assistant Billy Rowley promoting an approach that has hallmarks of Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and leads to chances galore.

But the biggest factor in Walton’s season has been Londoner Simon ensuring their well-drilled side have been anything but toothless.

‘I’ve just been in the right place to finish off the moves that the boys were creating,’ he said, modestly sharing the credit for his tally this season with his team-mates and coaches.

While Guardiola’s style inspires Walton’s, Simon has inevitably been dubbed a non-League version of Erling Haaland on social media after scoring 43 goals in all competitions despite a delayed start to the season due to injury.

In March he would have been a match for Haaland as one of the hottest strikers around, scoring a hat-trick in four games running, the first time that has ever been done in England’s top eight divisions. 

There was also a five-goal haul against Merstham on Easter Monday which made it a staggering 27 league goals in 14 appearances.

Simon said: ‘A few of my mates had been laughing because I’m groomsman for a friend’s wedding and I had booked the flight to America which is around the same time as the play-off final day.

Simon has been dubbed the non-League version of Manchester City's Erling Haaland

‘As soon as I realised there was a clash between the two, that was when my goal-scoring run started. They were saying that I’d been doing all of that (scoring) to make sure that I get on the plane there.’

Inevitably the attention on Simon has increased this season, with opponents keeping a closer eye on his whereabouts in the box. An appearance on national television also contributed to his increased notoriety — especially among his co-workers.

‘I don’t think they (his work colleagues) really knew how much I put into my football,’ Simon added. ‘I’d always say I was going to training after work but I think on the day I went in and said the television cameras were coming in, that was a massive surprise to them. Now they’re all following it. That’s been nice.’

Simon began focusing on becoming a dentist in his mid-teens after leaving Brentford and deciding to pursue a more guaranteed profession than football.

Dentistry was in the family as two of his uncles owned the Hounslow-based practice he now works in alongside one of his cousins.

After moving up to Liverpool for university, Simon caught the football bug again on his return south, increasing his dedication in the last few years and being rewarded with his climb up the non-League pyramid to Walton.

They are now just two more promotions away from the National League South, the first of which Walton hope to clinch in Sunday’s Isthmian South Central play-off final.

Dentistry was in the family as two of his uncles own the Hounslow-based practice he works in

Simon might find a procedure like pulling out a tooth less nerve-wracking than taking a last-minute penalty, but his goal record has inevitably left Walton braced for interest in his services.

However, he said: ‘I’m loving life at Walton at the moment. If I think back to two years ago where I was at mentally in terms of my football, it was nowhere near where I am now.

‘Everyone keeps saying, “You’re potentially going to be the next Jamie Vardy”. And, I guess, that’s the thing which keeps every footballer’s dream alive. You think, even at a late stage, something could happen, but I’m just focused on the here and now.

‘Whatever happens in football on the way is going to happen. I just need to keep performing as best as I can.’