James Hayter

undefined James Edward Hayter (born 9 April 1979) is an English footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and striker for Doncaster Rovers. His only other club was Bournemouth where he made his name as a prolific striker.

Bournemouth
After progressing through the youth system with south coast club Bournemouth, Hayter made his official début for them in the 1996–97 season in a 3–1 Division Two defeat to Peterborough United. Despite a promising start, he failed to gain a first team place and moved to Salisbury City on loan.

His performances there earned him a recall to Bournemouth from manager Mel Machin, scoring the fourth goal in a 4-0 demolition of Stoke on his return, and in October 2000 he equaled the club record for the number of goals scored in a match when he scored 4 against Bury. He was soon established as one of the most consistent and sought-after strikers outside the Premier League, and the proudest moment of his Bournemouth career came in May 2003 when he helped them achieve victory over Lincoln City in the Division Three playoff final.

On 24 February 2004, he came on as an 84th minute substitute while Bournemouth were 3–0 up at home to Wrexham and scored the fastest Football League hat-trick ever in less than 140 seconds, beating the record set by Jimmy Scarth of Gillingham in 1952. His parents were at the match but missed his hat-trick as they had to leave early to get the last ferry back to the Isle of Wight.

Hayter finished as Bournemouth's top scorer for the 2005–06 season, with 22 goals to his name, which proved vital in saving them from relegation. While struggling to score for Bournemouth in the 2006–07 season, he was a vital part of their first-team and scored twice against Oldham Athletic (3–2 win), the winner at Chesterfield (1–0) and one in the 5–0 win against Leyton Orient.

Doncaster Rovers
On 30 May 2007, Hayter signed for Doncaster Rovers for a club record transfer fee of £200,000.

Hayter powered Doncaster Rovers into the Championship, on 25 May 2008, with a 47th minute stooping header that proved the only goal in the 2008 League One play-off final, against Leeds United.

After Rovers' promotion to the Championship, Hayter struggled to find the net at the start of the 2008/9 season, but Rovers continued to show faith in Hayter, until an injury kept him out until March 2009. He started to find form on his return to the side, scoring his first goal of the season in narrow 2-1 defeat to Watford on April 4th 2009. He scored another 3 goals in the 2008/9 season against Ipswich Town, Plymouth Argyle and Crystal Palace, taking his goal tally for the season to 4. He made a good start to thr 2009/10 season as well, scoring on the opening day at Watford, and also grabbing goals in games against Cardiff, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace to take his tally for the season to 4 in early December.

Honours

 * Doncaster Rovers Golden Boot
 * 2007/08

Trivia

 * Hayter is 1.75m tall.
 * Hayter holds the record for the fastest Football League hat-trick, at 140 seconds.
 * He was the club record signing from May 2007 until June 2008, when the record was broken signing Matthew Mills.