Express & Star

Lee Evans made his Wolves breakthrough in a season to remember

It's been a season of so many highs for Wolves that it's difficult to know where to start.

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The promotion clinching win at Crewe? The victory that effectively won them the title at Leyton Orient?

The pivotal away triumph at Brentford or the historic ninth in a row at Swindon?

For the sheer sense of scale and occasion, what about 1-0 success at MK Dons in front of 9,000 away fans?

Well for midfielder Lee Evans, you have to go back a lot further – to the opening day of the season, when he made his competitive Wolves debut at Preston.

The game ended in an entertaining 0-0 draw but for 19-year-old Evans, the sight as he ran out to a backdrop of 5,000 Wolves fans behind the goal is one that will stay with him.

"Lifting the trophy at Molineux is a major one but for me personally, walking out at Preston in front of 5,000 away fans is the biggest thing that will stay with me," said the Wales Under-21 international.

"Making my debut in that atmosphere is something I'll never forget.

"And then a week after I managed to follow up by marking my home debut with a goal against Gillingham which is another moment I'll cherish."

Evans added: "It's been a great first full season at Wolves for me.

"It's had its challenges and its ups and downs personally, but as a club and a team we did what we needed to do which was to win promotion.

"To cap it off with the title and the record number of points just make it even better.

"A few people have mentioned it's my second successive promotion.

"I played the first half of the season with Newport when they were flying and top of the league before joining Wolves in January of last year.

"They went on to win promotion to the Football League via the play-offs and now Wolves have won promotion as well – let's hope we can go for another one next year!"

Evans is reflecting on a breakthrough season in which he played 26 League games, scoring twice.

But it's also been very much a learning curve for the youngster, who arrived from Newport County for £200,000 in January 2013.

While Evans has shown undoubted quality, there were signs of an impudent streak when he tweeted his disapproval at being left out of the squad for the 3-0 win at Colchester on October 5, then exactly a month later when he was booked, gave away a penalty and was perhaps taken off before he was sent off in the 2-2 draw at Carlisle.

He didn't play in the league again until the excellent 2-0 win against Preston on January 11, when he celebrated his recall with a goal.

And he finished the season on a high after being preferred to Jack Price for the last two games, having been involved in the final seven matches.

Evans is convinced he is better for his experiences – good and bad this season.

"It would always have been a big ask for me to play in most of the games this season," he said.

"I was pleased to start the season in the team and then later when the gaffer pulled me out for a good few weeks I think I learned from that and came back a better player because of it.

"Getting back into the team for the last couple of games was important for me to give me a chance to hopefully set a marker for next season.

"All we can ask as players is to be given a chance and then it's up to us to take it and that's what happened this season."

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