9th May 2016

Defender Connor Roberts says that his season at Yeovil has given him a good foundation for his career, after collecting five Player of the Year awards.

The young right-back joined Town on an initial one-month loan deal from Premier League side Swansea, but his impressive displays in defence led to the 20-year-old playing the full season at Huish Park.

The performances led to Roberts being voted the Bobby Hamilton Young Player of the Year, as well as the Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust Player of the Year, The DSA Player of the Season, The Away Travel Club Player of the Year and The Western Gazette Player of the Year.

And Roberts says that his mantra this season has been to keep going in what is his first taste of senior football.

“It’s a great end to a great season for myself,” said the defender.

“As the season progressed I thought to myself ‘just keep playing and do well’, and coming up towards the end of the season I was thinking ‘keep playing and maybe I’ll win a trophy!’

“I really wanted a goal and I would’ve probably taken one over a trophy to be honest, but in the end it’s been a great season for myself. I came here and I didn’t think I’d play that much!” 

The Welshman made 54 appearances for the Glovers, and was a big part of why the Glovers kept 13 clean sheets in the league with him in the side.

But it’s at the other end where Roberts feels he can improve, as his first professional goal has remained elusive.

“That’s why I don’t play upfront, because I can’t score!”, the right-back joked.

“Hopefully it’ll come soon like it did for Nathan Smith, Smithy’s always like ‘come on, you can score today’, so I say to him ‘I can but I probably won’t!’

“Some players just take longer than others to score, that’s me and hopefully one will come soon.”

The Swansea loanee has played all but one of Yeovil’s 46 league games this season, just missing out on the fixture against Carlisle on Good Friday after winning his first cap for the Wales under-21 team.

With Town’s League Two safety not yet assured at that stage, Roberts did have to think about the call-up but is glad that he joined up with the national set-up.

“I think if I hadn’t had that call-up, I would have done it (played every game) because I have that self-belief that I would have played and kept on playing, but I had to go away.

“I thought about it for a bit, but I did get my Welsh cap. To add that to my 54 games, won some awards and got my cap, so it’s been good and hopefully I can push on next season.”