Why Darren Pratley Should Win Player of the Year

It is perhaps quite peculiar to give my vote for player of the year to a player who has missed the last two months of the season through injury, and wasn't exactly anything special for the opening stages of the season either, but that hasn't stopped me from casting my ballot in Darren Pratley's favour.

Yaya Pratley has improved immeasurable since Neil Lennon has come in and, up until his cruel hamstring tear, he was easily playing the best football of his Bolton Wanderers career. Yes, he did have a good spell in Dougie Freedman's first season, but his quick upturn in quality performances directly correlates to the team's form on a whole. We have suffered an unimaginable amount of injuries this season, but we've not felt the absence of any more than Dazza Prazza.

His physicality, dominating presence, versatility and vastly improved ball technique made our midfield tick, as he was the all action midfielder who was able to break up play, but then carry the ball forward and begin attacks of our own. He even regained his goalscoring touch from his Swansea City days, with the knack of being in exactly the right place in precisely the right time returned to him. He scored four goals all with in a month of each other, with three of them being winning strikes, meaning he has directly earned us nine points this season, with which with out we would be sitting a mere two points above the relegation zone.

Pratley's reputation has been risen at an almost unparalleled pace over the course of the season, going from laughing stock and everybody's name on their "to sell list", to now being a pivotal player in our squad, one who has been sorely missed and has even been touted by some as a candidate for captaincy next season.

It's a damn shame we've not been able to see more of him this season, but the quality he displayed since Lennon came in is enough for me to think that Darren Pratley is BWFC's player of the 2014/15 season.

Who's yours?