BOBBY WALES was awarded the Alloa Athletic Player of the Year, as voted by the supporters.

The on-loan Kilmarnock striker edged out the competition by a narrow two vote margin, showcasing how much quality there was from the squad this year.

The youngster was awarded the POTY award and also clinched the top goalscorer award, with 12 goals to his name for the campaign.

Speaking to Advertiser Sport after the award ceremony, Wales was delighted to pick up the awards and was grateful that the supporters had backed him.

“I’m really happy,” Wales said. “I just said to Sammo that he’s only two behind me so I might need to give the trophy back in if he catches up!

“I’m happy to get it and picking up Supporter’s Player of the Year really means a lot.

“I’ve really tried to do what I can for the club and for the players with me so I’m happy that it’s been seen and appreciated by everybody.”

Wales joined Alloa on loan from Killie at the start of the season and was initially used in a front two with Ally Roy.

His early performances caught the eye of Alloa fans, who recognised that he was just a goal away from being truly special.

That maiden strike came in a 2-2 draw with Montrose and since then, he has been on top form, finding the back of the net 12 times across his last 15 games.

Looking back on his Alloa career, Wales said: “It was frustrating because I didn’t want to come in and be a young boy who’s just here for minutes and not do anything for the team.

“I kept getting told by the staff at Kilmarnock and my teammates here that as soon as I got one goal, they’d all come in.

“I was getting a bit sceptical of that, I didn’t really believe it but it’s happened now. Some people told me I was one goal away from exploding.

“Now they have come in, I’ve got 12 goals in my last 15 games so they’re very frequent now.

“I’m happy they have come in now as I didn’t really believe that, so it was quite tough at the start but I’m happy for it to have proven it’s worth now.

“It’s hard being a striker and not scoring goals but to now have the goals on top of a good performance which helps the team.

“I didn’t want to just be someone who was just scoring goals and not doing anything else.

“I can say I’m in a really good place mentally and physically as well, it’s helped me improve my fitness as well.

“I’m feeling confident and I want to give myself a really good chance to get back into the Kilmarnock team.”