Sheffield Wednesday graduate secures prestigious award after huge role in Derby County promotion

Wildsmith came through the ranks at Middlewood Road after joining the academy at a young age, but decided to go in search of new pastures in 2022 when he turned down a new deal at Hillsborough in favour of chasing regular first team football elsewhere.

He found it at Derby, and in two seasons he has already played more games for them than he did in his long spell with the Owls - this season alone he has played in 43 games in all competitions, keeping clean sheets in 50% of his League One games along the way. Those 20 shutouts were enough for him to claim the Golden Glove award, securing double delight for the former Wednesday man after helping his team to promotion back into the Championship.

“I am delighted to win the Golden Glove award for the season in League One,” he told the club’s official website. “It is a proud moment for me on a personal basis, but this is an accolade for everyone involved and not one individual.

“I must give a huge shout out to Josh Vickers and Scott Loach, as the other two goalkeepers in the team, and our goalkeeping coach Andy Warrington. We have a great goalkeeping unit with a strong working relationship.

“Our defence deserves huge praise for the way they’ve performed this season. There have been so many headers competed for, tackles won and vital blocks made to contribute to the clean sheets we’ve had. The midfielders and forward plays have equally contributed so this really is an award for the whole team and without them it wouldn’t be possible.”

Join our Whatsapp channel for your Wednesday news without the fuss of social media

Wildsmith has played 97 times for the Rams since leaving Wednesday, and he’ll be hoping to add to that tally even further in the second tier - including a possible return to Hillsborough should Danny Röhl’s side get the point that they need to stay in the division on Saturday.