With the 2022/23 regular season drawing to a close, it's time to take a look at who has claimed this campaign's Golden Boot and Golden Glove awards across the leagues...
Sky Bet Championship
Golden Boot - Chuba Akpom (Middlesbrough)
A record-breaking campaign for Middlesbrough’s in-form marksman Chuba Akpom ended with the striker holding the Championship Player of the Season accolade in one hand and the Golden Boot in the other.
The Arsenal Academy graduate has turned his fortunes around under boss Michael Carrick as he became the first Boro player since Bernie Slaven in 1989/90 to hit 20 league goals. Akpom ended the regular season with 28 goals, becoming the first player to find the back of the net in a ninth consecutive home Championship fixture after finding the back of the net in a 3-1 win over his former loan team Hull City.
Only Coventry City’s Viktor Gyokeres and Swansea City’s Joel Piroe have registered more shots on target thn Akpom’s 50. The forward, who averages a goal around every 111 minutes, has scored the greatest number of big chances (50), with 14 of his goals coming with his right foot, seven with his foot and seven headers. In addition, Akpom has scored the majority of his haul on home soil at the Riverside (20) compared to away grounds where he’s managed eight.
Golden Glove - Ben Wilson (Coventry City)
The first-ever Coventry City stopper to manage 18 clean sheets in a season, Ben Wilson set a new Club record after the Sky Blues played out a goalless draw with Swansea City in April and two shutouts later, he was named the Championship’s Golden Glove winner.
The 30-year-old, who was named in the divisional Team of the Season, finished up the campaign with 20 clean sheets, just eclipsing Luton Town’s Ethan Horvath who ended on 19. Wilson ranks inside the top 10 for both saves inside the box (31) and saves outside the box (73), while the keeper boasts an impressive 73.1% save percentage.
Wilson even took a leaf out of QPR’s Seny Dieng’s book last month. With Coventry trailing Play-Off rivals Blackburn Rovers and the clock running down at Ewood Park, the stopper had nothing to lose as Coventry were awarded a late corner. Wilson bundled the ball over the line to restore parity at 1-1 and rescue a vital point for the visitors.
Sky Bet League One
Golden Boot - Conor Chaplin (Ipswich Town) & Jonson Clarke-Harris (Peterborough United)
With the League One Golden Boot jointly shared between Ipswich Town’s Conor Chaplin and Jonson Clarke-Harris, Tractor Boys forward Chaplin fired his side to automatic promotion while Clarke-Harris has put Posh in Play-Off contention on the final day of the season.
Chaplin’s tally represents a personal best for the 26-year-old. Kieran McKenna’s side narrowly missed out on becoming the first team to do the double, reaching both 100 points and 100 goals. In 45 league outings, Chaplin notched 26 goals and five assists, just edging Clarke-Harris on the latter parameter.
And Posh skipper has seemingly cracked the code at this level. Four the fourth time in six years, a Peterborough player has claimed the Golden Boot, with the striker scoring 31 times when the Club won promotion in 2020/21, going up in second place and following in footsteps of Jack Marriott and Ivan Toney before him.
Golden Glove - Christian Walton (Ipswich Town)
Ipswich Town finished the campaign 19 games unbeaten as keeper Christian Walton kept 12 clean sheets in the Tractor Boys’ final 15 away games – one of which game in the game that clinched promotion with a game to spare, beating Exeter City 6-0 on home soil.
For Walton, it represents the second Golden Glove of his career. The 28-year-old was also the division’s top-rated stopper as Wigan Athletic won promotion to the Championship during a loan spell from Brighton and Hove Albion with the Latics in 2017/18.
He finished on 23 clean sheets in 46 games – joining Chaplin in scooping an individual accolade – with a 70.8% save percentage. Walton has come to the rescue on several occasions this season and only Morecambe’s Conor Ripley made more penalty saves than Walton, producing stops to deny Dion Charles and Joe Ironside.
Sky Bet League Two
Golden Boot - Andy Cook (Bradford City)
For large parts of the season, it was Bradford City’s Andy Cook and Northampton Town’s Sam Hoskins going head-to-head for the sought-after Golden Boot with both players enjoying stellar seasons for their respective Clubs with not much to separate the pair. In the end, it was Cook who ran away with the prize, tallying 28 strikes and counting.
His 36 goal involvements have been crucial in boosting Bradford up the table this season. The striker has a 52.63% shooting accuracy, having registered 50 shots on target. What’s more, 27 of the lethal finisher’s goals have been scored inside the box.
Although the competition for the award is decided at the conclusion of the regular season, Cook has the chance to take his tally to the 30-goal mark in the Play-Offs when the Bantams take on his former team Carlisle United for a place in the Final.
Golden Glove - Lawrence Vigouroux (Leyton Orient)
Leyton Orient were crowned champions in April and it was no surprise to see Richie Wellens’ side take the title after the O’s enjoyed the best-ever start to a League Two season, taking 28 points from their opening 10 games.
It owed much to their dependability at the back. Orient boasted the meanest defence across the whole of the EFL as the season came to an end, conceding just 34 goals across the course of the campaign which also marked a Club record for the East Londoners, and O’s stopper Lawrence Vigouroux had a huge part to play in that.
Vigouroux finished the term with 24 clean sheets – which included a record streak of nine consecutive shutouts at Brisbane Road between October and February – four clear of Carlisle United’s Tomas Holy to have the Golden Boot all but wrapped up with games to spare.
