Youngsters scoop up accolades for Barwell
THREE young local footballers collected all but two of the players’ honours at the recent Player of the Year awards evening at Barwell Football Club.
Teenage right back Jake Whitmore scooped the Young Player of the Year award, while Hinckley-born Elliot Percival - formerly of Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday - picked up Manager’s Player of the Year.
Both players received praise on the night from assistant manager Guy Hadland, who noted the duo’s excellent improvement after dropping out of the professional game.
Percival and Whitmore have both dealt with personal circumstances while continuing flourish for Barwell this season and have developed leaps and bounds in their first season of men’s football.
Former Leicester defender Percival has grown on a game-by-game basis, developing as a right back before being switched to centre half due to an injury crisis in the latter half of the season.
Not only is he more confident on the pitch, but the 20-year-old has also grown as a man, regularly voicing his opinion, challenging criticism and putting forward ideas in the Kirkby Road dressing room.
Whitmore arrived at Barwell as a shy character last summer, having initially arrived at Barwell on trial following his release from Coventry City.
The 19-year-old has also shone this season, putting in countless Man of the Match performances shortly after the turn of the new year.
Barwell manager Jimmy Ginnelly confirmed ahead of the awards evening that Whitmore had rejected a contract from Barwell, but to have been offered one shows the high esteem within which he is held.
Meanwhile, former Hinckley United and Leicester Road midfielder Matt Stenson - now a striker for Barwell - collected the Top Goalscorer award for his 20 strikes this season, as well as the Goal of the Season award for his 95th-minute curled equaliser away at Ashton United.