Five players are neck and neck in the battle for the Golden Boot

As the title race for the 2016 Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League season enters its final stretch, the battle for the topscorer's award is also hotting up.

We profile the five players who could end up with the Golden Boot.

1 KEN ILSO

(HOME UNITED)

• Hit rate: 14 goals in 17 games
• Favourite opponents: Warriors (three goals)
• Drew blanks against: 
 Balestier Khalsa

Home United's Ken Ilso is the frontrunner for the Golden Boot, having bagged the most goals and in two games less than his main challenger Rafael Ramazotti of Brunei DPMM FC.

Former Bundesliga forward Ilso's first season in the S.League last year was punctuated by injury and he played in just two thirds of Home's league matches.

Despite the lack of game time, the 29-year-old still scored 11 goals in 18 games, showing flashes of his brilliance. This term, he has missed just one S.League game and has been on top of his game.

He went on a remarkable run of scoring in seven consecutive games from April 15 to June 18 and looked a different class.

A big part of his success is his telepathic understanding with Home's chief creator Azhar Sairudin, who has enjoyed a resurgence of his own, earning a first national team call-up in June.

Supported by the likes of Faris Ramli, Khairul Nizam and Shamil Sharif, Ilso has the licence to roam out wide and look for gaps in opposition backlines.

2 RAFAEL RAMAZOTTI

(BRUNEI DPMM FC)

• Hit rate: 14 goals in 19 games
• Favourite opponents:
 Balestier (three goals)
• Drew blanks against:
 Hougang United

Early on in the season, it seemed like the Brazilian hitman would suffer from second-season blues.

Last season's topscorer found the net just once in the first four games as opposing defences seemed to have found a way to nullify the 1.93m targetman.

But Ramazotti came to life in June, scoring six goals in just three games.

He had scored the same number in 13 games before June.

With Paulo Sergio and Azwan Ali providing the ammunition alongside him - the trio combined for 35 of DPMM's 48 goals last season as they won the title - Ramazotti has regained his mojo.

The former FC Zurich man added another two this month and might just edge out Ilso to retain his title.

With just five games to go, though, it seems unlikely he will improve on his tally of 21 (from 27 games) from last season.

3 STIPE PLAZIBAT

(HOUGANG UNITED)

• Hit rate: 13 goals in 18 games
• Favourite opponents:
 Home United (four goals)
• Drew blanks against:
 Albirex Niigata and Warriors

When Hougang signed the Croat at the start of the season, coach K Balagumaran said he opted for Plazibat over his countryman Goran Ljubojevic - who scored 27 goals for Balestier Khalsa in 2014 - because the former was more versatile.

Bala added he did not want his team to "depend on just one player for goals".

Plazibat has just done that, as he scored almost half of the Cheetahs' 28 goals in the S.League this season.

Hougang's next highest scorers are Japanese playmaker Fumiya Kogure (four) and Slovakian skipper Jozef Kaplan (three).

Plazibat got his S.League career off with a bang, as he netted six goals in his first seven matches.

The 26-year-old former J.League player has shown great awareness in the penalty box, and many of his goals have been the result of simply making the right runs at the right time.

4 ATSUSHI KAWATA

(ALBIREX NIIGATA)

• Hit rate: 12 goals in 19 games
• Favourite opponents:
 Garena Young Lions (five 
 goals)
• Drew blanks against:
 Balestier, Geylang
 International, Tampines
 Rovers, Warriors

Kawata is a player who likes to score in bunches.

The Japanese is still in with a shot at finishing as the S.League's topscorer, but he has scored in only six different matches.

He grabbed headlines after becoming the first S.League player in almost two years to score four times in a game, when he managed that against the Young Lions in just the second game of the season in February.

Despite being at the heart of Albirex's best attacking moves, he went five games without scoring.

This prompted coach Naoki Naruo to make a drastic change - play him as a right wingback. The bizarre tactical switch paid off as Kawata bagged a hat-trick against Home United in April.

The 23-year-old revelled in his new role, grabbing a brace to help Albirex see off DPMM in Brunei two weeks after his three-goal salvo against Home.

He has since been deployed at right wingback, as the main striker, or as an attacking midfielder off central striker Rui Kumada, and has been outstanding in every role.

Blessed with speed and strength, excellent technical ability and a ferocious shot, Kawata is pivotal to Albirex's charge for a historic first S.League title.

5 JONATHAN BEHE

(WARRIORS)

• Hit rate: 12 goals in 18 games
• Favourite opponents:
 Home, Young Lions, Balestier
 and Albirex (two goals each)

The French striker can boast of being the only player to score against every team in the S.League this season.

Formerly on the books of French clubs Montpellier and Guingamp, and German outfit Hamburg, Behe had prior experience with South-east Asian football, with a stint at Thai club BEC Tero in 2013.

But few would have predicted he would start his S.League career in such emphatic fashion, scoring in each of his first six games.

Despite the Warriors' struggles this year - they are on a wretched run, winning just two of their last 14 games - Behe has still managed to find the net consistently.

His critics may point to his lack of contribution to the team effort when they are without the ball, but strikers are ultimately judged on the goals they score

And Behe has not gone more than two S.League games without scoring.

If he keeps up his steady output, a few more in the Warriors' last five games might just push him to the front of the race for the topscorer's title.