91Èȱ¬

Yeovil boss Gary Johnson has ranked striker Paddy Madden as one of the best signings of his managerial career.

Madden, 23, was initially brought to Huish Park on loan from Carlisle, before signing permanently in January.

He has netted 22 goals for the play-off contenders and is on course to finish League One's top scorer.

Johnson told 91Èȱ¬ Sport the Irishman was one of his most important acquisitions and added: "I don't think anybody thought he would do as well as he has."

He continued: "When you get a striker who scores 22 in 35 games then you've found someone special. He's been fantastic."

Carlisle signed Madden from League of Ireland side Bohemians in January 2011, but the Dublin-born forward struggled with injury during his time at Brunton Park.

Having made only seven starts and scoring twice for his parent club, he was loaned to Yeovil and made an immediate impact - netting two goals on his debut against Colchester.

The Glovers agreed a deal with Carlisle to sign Madden on a permanent basis, and his move was confirmed in January with Johnson describing him as a "bargain" signing.

Since then, he has scored 15 goals in 20 games to help Yeovil secure a League One play-off place.

"We can't bring in players that are ready-made. You have to play a lot of money for them," continued Johnson.

"What we did see in him was an energy and a work-rate. We thought he was very similar to Craig Mackail-Smith, who I had at Peterborough, and

"They were just constant threats to defenders. We thought Paddy was like that and he had enough guile that if he was made a number one striker, his confidence would bring out everything else.

"You have to go with your gut feelings, and we did that with Paddy and Marek Stech, Byron Webster and

"These are all lads that hadn't made it and they are all lads we had to take a chance with.

"Most of the boys we've brought in have come up trumps."