‘Why they signed me’ – Sheffield Wednesday’s Will Vaulks proves his worth again with thunderchuffer

Vaulks came in at Hillsborough as a big signing over the summer, but a niggling injury in the early stages of the campaign set him back, and it wasn’t until October that he really got a run of League One starts under his belt.

Since then he’s proven his worth on a number of occasions, but it’s over the last month or so that the tide has really turned for him in Wednesday colours.

With George Byers injured previously – prior to the knock sustained at Wycombe – and club captain, Barry Bannan, not available due to an injury of his own, ‘Vaulksy’ has been called upon to help run things in midfield.

The experienced Welsh international has done that and more, becoming a key performer in recent weeks to help his side climb into the top two and extend their unbeaten run to 14 games.

Vaulks, 29, can see his own improvement on the pitch, and admits that it was nice for his quality to be the deciding factor at Adams Park.

Speaking after the game, the midfield man said, “I think the last few games have shown more why I think the club signed me, probably. I’ve improved my performances, and it takes a bit of time when you come to a new club and you play a different way – but I’m hoping to continue that form into the rest of the season and help us win as many games as possible…

“It doesn’t get much better than a 1-0 win away from home at a tough place to come. Wycombe really make it hard for you, but we spoke about it before the game and we said that if we can win the fight then a bit of quality would come through. It just happened to be from myself today.”

The former Cardiff City man is no stranger to goals outside the box, scoring plenty of them in his time, and he says that it’s an element that he wanted to bring to the setup at Wednesday before he joined.

“It’s been a little while,” he explained. “Possibly the longest I’ve gone between goals, but a few of the lads said they fancied me for this one – so when it fell, I just thought, “I’m hitting this one.”

“Goals are something that I said I wanted to bring to the club when we spoke in the offseason before I signed, and they do tend to come from outside the box because I tend to play a bit deeper so I don’t manage to get in the box. I’d like a few tap-ins along the way, but it’s definitely something I try to bring, so if I get the opportunity I’m not passing it.”

Wednesday’s next game sees them take on Fleetwood Town on Saturday, and Vaulks will be hoping that he can play his part in extending their unbeaten run even further – potentially even going top of League One at the same time.

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