Mellor came through the ranks at Liverpool and was a player who was quickly being talked about as a big prospect, eight goals in four games as Liverpool reached the FA Youth Cup Semi Finals in the 2000/2001 season certainly helped.

56 goals the following season further cemented his case and the Sheffield born striker has scored goals at every level including 30 in just over a season for the reserves.

His first team debut came back in the 2002/03 season when he started in the League Cup Fourth Round match with Ipswich, he went on to make a further five appearances and scored his first goal in the 2-1 defeat against Sheffield United in the League Cup Semi Final at Bramall Lane.

The League Cup proved a lucky competition for Mellor, whose next Liverpool goals came in the same competition a year and half later, after spending most of the previous season on loan at West Ham.

The two goals in the League Cup were followed by the strike which put his name down in Liverpool history, the last gasp winner in the 2-1 win over the then Champions Arsenal.

Things then got even better a fortnight later when he played a major part in Liverpool beating Olympiacos to make the last 16 of the Champions League, coming off the bench to score a vital goal then set up Steven Gerrard for the winner.

Mellor spent almost a year on the sidelines in 2005 when he was recovering from a double knee operation to cure tendonitis but his injury problems continued at the turn of the year when a loan spell at Wigan was cut short after just five appearances, where he scored one goal.

He signed for North End a day before the transfer window closed in 2006, but a knee injury suffered while playing for the reserves - which required a minor knee operation - put his North End debut on hold.

It finally came on January 27^th, when he was a second half substitute, replacing David Nugent in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Four more substitute appearances followed before he was handed his first start in the home game against Southampton on March 5^th and with the goalscoring form he was on for the reserves it was hardly surprising that he opened his account on his full debut, scoring the first goal in a 3-1 win.

Mellor's 2007/08 season has been equally frustrating. Despite scoring regularly for the reserves, Mellor hasn't made the impact he would have liked in the first team and has instead been at his most effective coming on as a substitute. He has remained injury free however, and with a good pre-season, Mellor will be looking to get back to his prolific best in 2008/09.