It’s been an amazing weekend, says Wilson
FOREST Green Rovers wingback Kane Wilson says only the birth of his son tops the weekend he has just had.
A day after winning promotion to Sky Bet League One following a 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers, Wilson scooped the League Two Player of the Year accolade at the English Football League awards.
“It’s right up there,” said Wilson, when asked if it was the best weekend of his life. “The only thing that trumps it is my son being born. It’s been an amazing weekend, something that’ll live with me forever.”
Wilson has scored three goals and provided 13 assists – although he believes that number is incorrect and should be 15 – in Forest Green’s promotion-winning campaign.
The wing-back signed for Rovers in the summer of 2020, after being released from boyhood club West Bromwich Albion.
Due to injuries, he only made 25 League appearances in a frustrating first season with the club, but the 22-year-old has started 42 of Forest Green’s 43 League Two games so far this campaign.
“I think if you told me this time last year that I’d be in this position then I would have laughed at you,” Wilson admitted. “No chance. I was just focused on getting into the Forest Green team at that point. To now be holding this award as the best player in League Two – it’s a feeling I can’t explain.”
Wilson pipped teammate Matty Stevens and Newport County’s Dominic Telford – who is League Two’s leading scorer with 25 goals – to the award. The last five winners of the accolade had all been strikers.
“I’m probably the first non-striker to win an award like this in a long time,” said Wilson. “Matty, for me, is the best striker in the League along with Jamma (Jamille Matt). Telford’s a top striker too and he was a really worthy candidate. I thought it would definitely be one of those two, and I was hoping it’d be Matty.”
Wilson was also named in the League Two team of the season, alongside Forest Green colleagues Stevens and Nicky Cadden. A Rovers player had never made a League Two team of the season before the inclusion of the trio.
Forest Green boss Rob Edwards was also named as Manager of the Year, having led the Green Devils to promotion in his first season.
“I think everyone who watches Forest Green knows that we could have had eight or nine people in the team of the season,” Wilson said. “Cadds has had an unbelievable season on the opposite side to me. He’s somebody who pushes me every game and he deserves his award just as much as anyone else.”
With promotion and a personal award in the bag, Wilson’s focus is now on securing the title with Forest Green, having sat top of League Two since September.
“Everyone wants to get that” Wilson said. “We’ve been there all season, I think we deserve it. Exeter are the main threat, and there are other very good teams pushing us.”
That fight continues at West rivals Swindon this evening. Robins goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott and striker Harry McKirdy also made the League Two Team of the Year.
The derby is arguably bigger for the Wiltshire side as defeat for them and other results going the wrong way could leave them five points off the play-offs with two games to go.
Alternatively, victory could lift them into the top seven tonight.