When Killer and Kev led the line for Walsall

Yet the Bermudan forward essentially found his career in a state of uncertainty before Walsall came knocking.

“He’d been at Scarborough and my friend Ray McHale was the manager there at the time,” former director of football Paul Taylor recalled.

“But he was really let go by Scarborough and that’s why we took him on trial. Kyle came in during that pre-season and we eventually took him.

“We were playing Kyle wide because it’s a different game playing as a striker in the English lower leagues and being battered by the centre-backs.”

Kyle ‘the late ace’ carried the Express & Star headline in July 1993, after he brought Walsall’s pre-season tour of Ireland to a victorious close with the decisive strike in a 1-0 over St James Gate.

That ultimately earned him a permanent contract with the Saddlers, although he would have to wait until September to make his competitive debut due to work permit issues.

Nonetheless, Lightbourne found the net nine times in his debut campaign from the left, until the arrival of Kevin Wilson from Bradford City in 1994 transformed his Saddlers career altogether.

“The first year saw him play wide. Then the next season, we played him up front but the key to that was bringing in Kevin Wilson as a No. 10,” Taylor reveals.

“It was a great partnership. We’d go short and Kevin would hold up the ball, and play Kyle in over the top.

“Kyle had pace, goal scoring ability and was a fantastic athlete. His signing was a great success.”

The pair scored a combined 48 goals to propel Walsall to promotion in 1995. No Walsall player has scored more league goals in a single season than Lightbourne’s total of 23 ever since.

Wilson left Walsall for Northampton in 1997, and Lightbourne joined Coventry. Their strike partnership heralded 134 goals across three seasons, and remains one of Bescot’s best to date.