With Swindon sitting pretty at the top of League Two you could easily say it has been a brilliant season for the Robins and one of the major factors behind our success this season has been the young players who have impressed after being introduced to the first team.
As this superb season draws to its close now comes the almost impossible task to select just one. Let’s have look at some of the main candidates for the award.
1.Wesley Foderingham
The 21-year-old goalkeeper has firmly established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet after a fabulous season in goal, becoming a fan favourite, making vital saves that have put us top of the table. When he signed on loan from Crystal Palace in October no-one had really heard of the young shot stopper but after keeping five clean sheets in his first five matches Robins fans took a real shine to him. When January rolled around I expected an extension to his loan but I was delighted when we managed to sign him a permanent deal. With 14 clean sheets, he has easily been the best signing we made in January, with a particularly favourite being his penalty save against Cheltenham in a top-of-the-table clash.
2. Callum Kennedy
The young left-back was a solid first teamer at the beginning of the season but he lost his place after a few weeks with Allessandro Cibocchi taking the reins on the left side of defence. That is how it stayed until he was recalled for the FA Cup match against Huddersfield where he put in, arguably, his best performance of the season. Until recently he has been in and out of the first team but when called upon he has been a very reliable left back. With the experienced Jay McEvely on loan from Barnsley and the news that Jay is likely to sign for us in the summer, it could signal less chances in the starting line-up for Callum. However he deserves his selection after an impressive season.
3.Billy Bodin
I have chosen the young forward as even though he has impressed away from the County Ground. He spent most of the earlier part of the season on-loan at Torquay but when he returned for a few weeks he was brilliant even scoring against Southend and Crawley which was a proud moment for the Swindon-born forward with his being Paul Bodin being a Swindon legend and the youth coach at Swindon. He is currently spending the rest of the season at Crewe but having played the start and the middle of the season at Swindon he qualifies and deservedly so after his six goals which is a great return for any in their first season in the football league.
Young player of the season for me goes to Billy Bodin, as even though he hasn’t been in the team week in and week out, he has developed the most and has become the striker all Swindon fans wanted him to become while also racking up a fair few goals this season. He tries his best in every game and has done enough to earn him a new contract at the end of the season unless, of course, Torquay or Crewe try and pry him away from us but I’m sure if he is offered a contract by Di Canio he will take it. If Billy continues to work hard and improve he will go down to be a Swindon legend like his dad and could well have a goal scoring record that better than that of Charlie Austin or Simon Cox. For the present I don’t think Billy would look out of place in a top League One club but for now playing for Torquay and Crewe has helped him as a player and hopefully young Billy will be ready to be involved in the squad more next season in League One.
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