MATT Ritchie has already swept all before him to win the League Two player of the year award this season, but will he get your vote and retain the Swindon Advertiser Footballer of the Year trophy?

The Advertiser has teamed up with Swindon Town Football Club to offer one lucky fan who votes for the eventual winner a 2012/13 season ticket, where you could be watching Paolo Di Canio’s side plot a second successive promotion in League One.

The midfielder scored eight times for Town last season as the Robins were relegated from League One, but has bettered that this year with 10 goals during Town’s unstoppable charge which is set to end in promotion from League Two.

A host of spectacular strikes, including two at Rotherham, ensured Ritchie was named the best player in the league at an awards ceremony in March, but his craft and guile has seen him control the Town midfield for much of the season, and bring the best out of the players around him.

But Ritchie is far from the only contender to win the prestigious award this time around.

The 22-year-old has worked in tandem down the Town right with skipper Paul Caddis for most of the season, and the Town captain’s influence on his team was highlighted by a six-week spell where he was not involved due to an ankle injury.

The Scot is the starting point of most Town attacks as well as weighing in with a few crucial goals, and together with Ritchie and midfielder Simon Ferry, played an influential part in Town’s surging run immediately after Christmas.

In his absence Town did not look at their best going forward, and with Ritchie also injured at the same time the quality of balls into the box dropped significantly.

But during that time Town continued to be able to dig out victories despite not always being at their best, and that was largely down to Swindon’s watertight back line.

Since joining the club from Crystal Palace in October, initially on loan before signing a permanant deal, goalkeeper Wes Foderingham has kept clean sheet after clean sheet, and has looked calm and assured whenever he has pulled on a Town shirt.

The unflappable keeper has given confidence to whichever defenders line up in front of him, be it Caddis, Aden Flint or Joe Devera, but there is one name which stands out above all the rest.

When Alan McCormack joined the club in the summer, he did so as a midfielder, but since Town boss Paolo Di Canio moved him into the back line in the wake of a defensive crisis he has been a revelation.

Despite lacking in size, the Irishman has coped with everything that has been thrown at him, be it in the air or on the ground, and has even looked comfortable playing at both left and right back.

The 28-year-old was also responsible for what will go down as one of the most iconic moments of the season, having scored the late winner at Northampton which led to Di Canio rushing down the touchline to celebrate with his players in front of the Town fans.

While Town have not had a 20-goal a season striker at their disposal, strikers Paul Benson and Alan Connell have weighed in with 10 and 12 respectively to help move Di Canio’s side up the league.

Whoever wins this year’s award will join the likes of Town legends Don Rogers, Mike Summerbee, Shaun Taylor, Fraser Digby and Sam Parkin in having picked up the award, which will be presented at the end of season.

Player who have made 15 appearances this season are eligible.

  • IT'S simple to vote for your Swindon Town Player of the Year by either phone or text.

Simply follow the instructions below and you could be in with a chance to win a season ticket for the 2012/13 season.

Vote by Phone: Call 0901360 followed by the four digits under the player of your choice.

Vote by Text: Send your text to 80360 starting with STFCPLAYER, leave a space, followed by the four digits under the player of your choice.

THE SHORTLIST

Callum Kennedy 0946

Aden Flint 0947

Joe Devera 0948

Paul Caddis 0949

Simon Ferry 0950

Paul Benson 0951

Matt Ritchie 0952

Alan McCormack 0953

Oliver Risser 0954

Alan Connell 0955

Luke Rooney 0956

Lander Gabilondo 0957

Raffa De Vita 0958

Jon Smith 0959

Alessandro Cibocchi 0960

Ronan Murray 0961

Wes Foderingham 0962

Mehdi Kerrouche 0963

Lukas Magera 0964

Calls cost no more than £1.02 per call from a BT Landline.

Calls from mobiles and some other networks may cost more. Texts cost £1.00 plus your normal operator text charge.

Telephone and text voting lines open today and close at midnight on May 2, 2012.

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