Former Oxford United striker Craig Davies returns to the Kassam Stadium for the first time tomorrow since his £85,000 move to the then Italian Serie B side Hellas Verona in January 2006.

A player of undoubted talent, Davies has also had a chequered career with moments where he has landed in trouble.

But this season, he has been banging in the goals, 22 in the league – some of them spectacular ones – and award has followed award.

Last Sunday he was named in the PFA’s League Two Team of the Year, along with fellow Chesterfield players Tommy Lee and Danny Whitaker.

The Wales international also won Match! magazine’s Player of the Month award for March.

And that comes on top of winning the npower Player of the Month award for March following a productive period in which the Spireites’ leading goalscorer netted six times.

Davies said: “I appreciate these awards, but it is a team effort and I really hope we can go on to win the title by the end of the season.”

Chesterfield will not do that tomorrow, but may clinch the title on Monday when they entertain Bury at home.

Davies started his career as a Manchester City trainee, but was released after failing to knuckle down.

Oxford United took him and he became a prolific goalscorer in the U’s youth team.

It was former U’s boss Ramon Diaz who really acknowledged Davies’s ability to mix it with the men, despite being only just a teenager.

He threw the youngster into the first team and with, his power and pace, Davies did not look out of his depth.

After scoring eight goals in 48 appearances for the U’s, he was sold to Verona, but only made one appearance for the Italian club, and admitted the totally different culture and not being able to speak the language left him a little homesick.

He returned to England and played for Wolves, Oldham, Brighton, and had a long loan spell at Port Vale.

Davies, pictured after scoring for Oxford, has mixed good and bad.

He hit a hat-trick inside 45 minutes for Brian Flynn’s Wales Under 21s, but was sent off against Israel.

He was also sent off on his Chesterfield debut, but has gone on to hit 23 goals in 38 appearances.

“The manager (John Sheridan) is very hard on me because he only wants the best for me.

“I’m very grateful for that,” he said.

“I know I’ve got to keep working hard, but I really am focused on what I want to achieve and that means getting my head down.”