Beqa Mikeltadze was a relative unknown when he touched down at the Newcastle Jets this season.
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Now the Georgian striker is in a two-man race for the A-League golden boot.
Mikeltadze has scored 13 goals entering the clash against Western United at McDonald Jones Stadium on Wednesday night.
Melbourne City's Jamie Maclaren leads the way with 14. Both players have two games remaining.
Maclaren has been the competition's premier striker for the past two seasons.
Mikeltadze arrived in August with a solid resume.
He played at a high level in Russia, captained his county at youth level and boasted two senior caps.
However, one major element was missing - goals.
The 24-year-old had hit the target three times in 17 games for Greek second tier club Xanthi in the previous season, his most productive campaign since netting 16 goals in two seasons as a teenager for Dinamo Tbilisi.
He has certainly corrected that record.
Mikeltadze's current haul is second only to Adam Taggart's 16 for the Jets in the 2013-14 season.
"It would be a justified award," coach Arthur Papas said of Mikeltadze pursuit of the golden boot. "I made the comment when we signed him: just because no-one had heard of him and he didn't come from a typical background, that he won't be successful here.
"Beqa has been outstanding from day one but I think he can get a lot better."
Mikeltadze is contracted for another season in Newcastle.
He will be without partner in crime Daniel Penha (suspended) against Western United.
The Brazilian has provided a league-high 11 assists. He returns for the final game Central Coast, however the Jets face a battle to retain the on-loan playmaker next season.
Sydney FC and at least one other A-League club are understood to be in talks with Penha.
Sources have suggested a deal has already been done with Sydney.
Mikeltadze was among a host of players "under the weather" in the lead-up to Sunday's resounding 3-0 away win over Macarthur.
However, he trained well on Tuesday and is right to go.
Jets goalkeeper Michael Weier said Mikeltadze's work ethic was the key to his success.
"You can be skilful and all that, but if you don't have the heart, it doesn't come through," he said. "Beqa has all the tekkers and stuff like that. You can see when he plays he is so passionate. He just wants to win. The fire in his belly is burning so hard that he gets to positions to score goals. He does exactly what we need him to do."
The win over Macarthur ended a three-game losing streak for the Jets and Weier said the aim was to make "as much noise as we can" in the final two games.
"Missing the finals is not something we are happy about," he said. "We can either cry about it or work hard.
"Western are third on the ladder. We know ourselves we can match it with them. We have to prove to the league that we are capable."