Harris: Latecomer to the professional game (CraigPrentis/Allsport)

The Manchester United and England striker remains Millwall's record League marksman, having scored 93 goals for them before his £2 million move to Nottingham Forest in July 1991.

Harris is still some way short of that but the hat-trick he scored in the 6-1 win over Colchester on Boxing Day took his total to 57 in less than three seasons. He followed it up with another hat-trick at Reading on Saturday to keep Millwall on top of the Second Division.

The significance of this is that he is scoring goals at a far faster rate than Sheringham, who now enjoys folklore status at The Den. In his first 100 League games for Millwall, Sheringham scored 33 goals. Harris's first 100 games have produced 53 goals. At that rate he is sure to overhaul Sheringham's record - unless he goes elsewhere.

Bigger clubs are already casting envious glances towards Mark McGhee's promotion chasers. For instance, McGhee recently turned down a £2.5m bid for Harris from First Division club Preston.

Like so many of the game's late developers, he has an appreciation of life as a professional footballer that often eludes those who join clubs straight from school.

'I know what it's like to get up at six and stand on the commuter train to London,' he said. 'I know what it's like coming home in the same crowd and then going out training a couple of nights a week.'

Harris, who comes from Orsett in Essex, followed his father into the insurance business while playing for Maldon Town. It was only when he went to Cambridge City and started scoring goals regularly that a few League clubs began to take notice.

'I wasn't keen on going for trials but when Liverpool invited me up there, that was different,' he recalled. 'I was a Liverpool fan as a kid and particularly admired Ian Rush.' Harris had two trials at Anfield, scoring a goal for the reserves against Blackburn in the second of them.

'I thought I'd done enough so I was a bit gutted when they said they didn't want me,' he said. It was Billy Bonds, then the Millwall manager, who convinced Harris, then 20, that he had a future in the professional game. They paid Cambridge City £30,000 for him.

'Millwall gave me the chance and I'll always be grateful,' he said. 'It's worked out perfectly for me and I have no regrets whatsoever. I always wanted to be a footballer but had it not worked it wouldn't have been the end of the world. I like to think of myself as fairly down to earth and level-headed.'

Like most members of the Society of Master Goalscorers, Harris has a high regard for the former England captain Alan Shearer. Kevin Phillips also rates highly. 'Played for Baldock Town didn't he?' smiled Harris. 'Like me he had to work his way up from the non-League game.'

Harris has clearly benefited from the experience of working under McGhee, the former Aberdeen, Celtic and Newcastle striker who, in his first coaching job, led Reading out of the Second Division.

'Working with a coach who was a centre-forward in his playing days has had some obvious benefits for me,' said Harris. 'He's come in and done a great job for the club. He's got his own style and it's obviously working. I don't think you can argue with the League table. If we maintain our progress I think we're good enough to win promotion.'

Harris can create his own goals when necessary. He's not an old-fashioned centre-forward but a striker who prefers the ball to his feet, rather like Sheringham.

He can turn defenders, dribble past them, shoot and create chances for others. 'I think if there's something I'd like to improve it's my heading,' he said. 'I don't get too many goals with my head.