Ben Elliott Is Your April 2024 Reading Player Of The Month
30/04/2024 13:20
Congratulations to the young playmaker, the eighth different winner from nine votes this season.
Congratulations to Ben Elliott, who's won our Player of the Month award for April!
The young playmaker took 42% of the vote, beating off competition that primarily came in the shape of Lewis Wing (31%). Sam Smith (18%) and Tyler Bindon (8%) made up the rest of the voting in what was a strong set of candidates.
It's a first POTM win of the season for Elliott, but a thoroughly deserved one. He was a really bright spark in April, taking to his new(ish) central-midfield role well. Elliott had to bide his time before being trusted to feature at the heart of the action, but he's repaid that trust. In fact, Elliott played in all six April matches, starting the final five of them.
Although he didn't register a goal or an assist, he brought plenty of dynamism to Reading's midfield. Elliott is quick both in his thinking and his footwork, an adept dribbler, and he has an eye for a pass too. He's someone who has the skillset to not only play as a 6, 8 or 10, but also to switch between those profiles in the middle of a match. I can't wait to see him develop next season.
For a closer look at Elliott, written in late March when he'd primarily been deployed on the left wing, check out Lewis de la Riviere's article here.
Elliott is the eighth different winner of our POTM award this season, from nine votes. Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan took the August award before Caylan Vickers and Nelson Abbey won the September and October votes respectively. Femi Azeez is the only player to have won POTM more than once, thanks to wins in November and December. In the New Year, Harvey Knibbs (January), Lewis Wing (February) and Tyler Bindon (March) added their names to the list.
The pleasing thing about putting these POTM votes together this season is that they've been far more competitive than last season. Much of the first half of the campaign was effectively The Tom Ince Show, and from December onwards, it was often a case of picking the best of a poor bunch.
But this time round, we've constantly had numerous worthy winners. Wing and Smith both scored four times in April and Bindon again was a standout. I also almost included Knibbs in the shortlist, while Azeez wouldn't have been out of place either.
Keep your eyes peeled to The Tilehurst End for our Player of the Season vote in the coming days. Yes, we all know Wing's going to win it, but it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the voting breaks down too.
