Stewart tops BBC vote

Stewart is hoping to end the season as top scorer

Teddy Sheringham may have been awarded the PFA Player of the Year award by his fellow professionals, but it was not a choice backed by the users of BBC Sport Online.

Our vote, totalling almost 5,500, clearly placed Ipswich striker Marcus Stewart on top of the pile as the season's outstanding performer.

The former Huddersfield and Bristol Rovers striker polled 36.70%, with Liverpool's Emile Heskey (28.73%) his nearest rival and Sheringham well back in third place (10.48%).

The reasons for Stewart's wealth of support are not hard to see.

Sheringham has only scored four league goals in 2001

While Sheringham is a seasoned Premiership player, 28-year-old Stewart has taken the top flight by storm in his first season at the highest level.

Many Premiership clubs eyed the former England under-21 international but none were prepared to plunge into the transfer market.

Ipswich gave him his chance when they paid Huddersfield £2.5m last season.

And after providing the missing link in helping the Suffolk club gain promotion, Stewart has proved his doubters wrong.

Prior to Ipswich's trip to Charlton on Monday night, Stewart had already netted 21 goals this term, including 19 in the Premiership, making him the division's top scorer.

And while Sheringham has been just one of four strikers rotated by Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, Stewart has been the mainstay in an Ipswich forward line that does not enjoy such riches.

More to the point, Sheringham's goals (15 in the Premiership - of which only four have been since the turn of the year) have come in a side who finished, as expected, as champions.

Stewart's achievements are all the more remarkable as his goals, spread throughout the season, have helped a side, predicted by almost every pundit to be relegated, into a European place.

Similarities between the two players have been drawn by some experts this year, with Stewart gaining great credit for his ability to bring others into the play, in the same way as Sheringham does.