"Last season I was a boy playing men's football" Lawrence Vigouroux talks development at Swindon Town

After picking up yet another man-of-the-match award on Saturday, Swindon Town goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux has spoke about he has developed during his two years in Wiltshire.

In a recent poll by leading football magazine, FourFourTwo, that documented the top 50 Football League players, Lawrence Vigouroux was ranked 46th after just two seasons as a Football League regular.

He initially joined Swindon on a season-long loan from Liverpool back in August 2015 and, after impressing in his debut season at the County Ground, he completed a permanent switch the following summer for an undisclosed fee.

As Swindon's form has dipped, Vigouroux has simultaneously blossomed into one of, if not the, key member of the Robins' squad and the 23-year-old Chilean is pretty much nailed-on to win the club's player-of-the-season award following a string of top performances this campaign.

One of them was this weekend in the 1-1 draw with the MK Dons, where he was awarded the man-of-the-match award for keeping the contest alive for Swindon.

Vigouroux did concede one goal, a penalty that he dived the correct way before, but Milton Keynes would have won the game comfortably had the goalkeeper not made two brilliant saves in the first half, as well as putting off Ed Upson in the 90th minute when the midfielder was clean through on goal. 

Speaking of his inclusion in the FourFourTwo poll he said "personally, it's amazing."

"I've come from (playing) academy football my whole life so to go into the (Swindon) first team and to get recognised by people in the game or fans after just two years in the first team is an honour really. 

"But, at the end of the day, those sort of things I don't really think about too much, I don't really worry about (it), I just want to help the team, that's the most important thing."

On a broader note, Vigouroux then detailed how he has improved as a footballer since making the move from development football with Premier League giants Tottenham and Liverpool, to men's football with Swindon.

"Last season I was like a boy playing men's football.

"I think I worked hard when I got injured last year, I tried to get my body stronger, and I came back this year and I was completely different.

"I think it has showed this season with my personal performances and I feel like I've got more authority as a goalkeeper so that's something I'm really happy with."

For a number of years now Swindon have been built on a philosophy of building attacks from the back, starting with the goalkeeper, something you might not expect from Vigouroux, who stands at six-foot four-inches tall.

When asked if he was a 'footballer' at Liverpool and Tottenham or whether that has been taught to him by Swindon, he replied:

"When you play at a top club, Spurs and Liverpool, goalkeepers there need to make saves because every goalkeeper needs to but you need to have the other side of your game, which is the passing.

"When I first came here I thought I would find it easier than I found academy football, which was the wrong thing to do. 

"I came back in the summer and worked hard, really hard, and I found it really difficult as well at the beginning of the season - now I feel that I've adapted to League One football and it's something that I really enjoy at the moment.

"I claim much more (crosses) in League One. Definitely. In academy football you get quite a few but I think everything's more intricate and everything's more in and around the box and trying to play nice passes between lines and stuff but here teams just get it and put it right in the box.

"I've worked hard on crossing, I've got a great goalkeeping coach, Dean (Thornton), I get on really well with him. He helps me out massively. 

"If he sees anything that I need to work on he'll tell me and if I see something that I've done well he'll tell me as well so it's never too up, never too down because that's the life of a goalkeeper."