Not even England hero Michael Owen can hold a candle to Shaun Goater at the moment.

Despite two goals in Liverpool's 3-1 defeat of Manchester United yesterday, the Reds' striker is still lagging way behind the Bermudian when it comes to being the country's hottest striker.

Goater's hat-trick in the 4-1 rout of Gillingham at the weekend, his second this season, moved him to 20 goals, 18 in the league. And even if you add Owen's goals in European competition, he can still only muster 16.

But despite his incredible tally, Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan believes Goater should have had even more.

"Shaun Goater's got 20 goals now but he could have had another 20 this season. But he's been there to miss the chances and he's a real threat up front," said the manager after Saturday's victory, which moved City up to fifth in the league.

Goater opened the scoring against hapless Gillingham in the 18th minute when he smashed home from 12 yards.

Two minutes later he added to his tally.

Strike partner Darren Huckerby burst in from the left flank only to see his shot parried by 'keeper Vince Bartram, but Goater was in the right place at the right time to steer the ball home.

Within minutes he could have sealed his hat-trick but rather than instinctively sticking out a boot he opted to leave Shaun Wright-Phillips' shot which appeared to going in but instead skimmed past the upright.

Further chances came and went but in the 52nd minute, Goater did get his third goal.

The opening was created by Ali Benarbia who linked well with Huckerby. The striker then touched the ball to Goater who drilled home from eight yards out.

"I was very pleased with the team's performance," said Keegan. "We played some great football and created a lot of chances. Once again we could have scored more goals than we did. We played clever football at times and if we had a fault it was in the second half when we got a bit sloppy.

"I think if we had been a bit more professional we could have been looking at a bigger goal tally here. That is the only disappointment."

England's top five leading scorers in all competitions: Shaun Goater (Manchester City) 20; Michael Owen (Liverpool) 16; Brett Ormerod (Blackpool) 16; Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 15; Gary Alexander (Hull) 15.

Meanwhile, Kyle Lightbourne secured a share of the points for Macclesfield when his late header cancelled out Carlisle's first-half opener.

Despite early pressure from Macclesfield, Carlisle deserved their first-half lead and they opened the scoring in the 43rd minute through Richie Foran.

But it was Lightbourne who finally capitalised on the home side's second-half pressure to level the scores when he headed home from close range 14 minutes from time.