CALLUM SHOWS WAY TO THE TOP
ALL eyes were on Leagues One and Two with no Premier League or Championship football this weekend. And Callum Wilson’s debut goal for England against the USA on Thursday night must have given Football League players everywhere heart. Wilson spent five seasons at Coventry and scored 22 goals in League One in his final season before earning a move to Championship side Bournemouth. More goals followed and after promotion to the Premier League, Wilson continued scoring until injury set his career off track. Thankfully, he managed to work his way back from not one, but two anterior cruciate injuries to recover his form and he fully deserved his call-up and subsequent goal. Wilson isn’t the only example of a player making their mark at the highest level after breaking through in the lower leagues. I played with quite a few. Whilst at Watford, Kevin Phillips and I were competing for a striking berth and his finishing was outstanding, one of the best I had seen. Phillips, like Wilson, also made the move to a Championship club, Sunderland. He grabbed his chance by scoring for fun at that level and then in the Premier League, which resulted in an international call-up. Rickie Lambert was a teammate at Southampton and what a front man he was. He had two great feet, could head it and his link-up was brilliant. ‘Lambo’ could score from distance, with power or placement, not to mention from free-kicks and penalties. His form in League One at Bristol Rovers earned him that move to Southampton, where he really found his feet, and, like Wilson, after promotion to the Premier League, an international call-up and debut goal followed. For the likes of League One hot-shots Tom Eaves (Gillingham) and Josh Maja (Sunderland), the incentive is there. Everyone needs a goalscorer and Wilson has shown there are no barriers to breaking into the big time.