After a brace on his Manchester United debut in the Premier League against Hull City at the back end of the 2013/14 campaign, the future of James Wilson appeared to be very bright.

However, with things at United not quite working out how he would have envisaged, considering that in the consequent two seasons he only made 13 appearances, since then the forward has been at six different clubs- three of which were on a loan basis.

At the majority of these clubs, Wilson has really struggled to find his feet with his best goalscoring season coming last campaign at Salford City, despite missing the last 10 matches through injury, with him scoring seven goals from 24 matches.

Nonetheless, after the 25-year old achieved his first senior hat-trick yesterday that helped see Port Vale smash Accrington Stanley 5-1 in the first round of the FA Cup, taking his tally for the season to six, is it the confidence boost Wilson needed to now kick on and start netting on a consistent basis for the Valiants.

Wilson impressed despite not netting often

Vale manager Darrell Clarke recruited the Biddulph born striker in the summer and despite only scoring three goals before the weekend's stunning display, Wilson had played a part in all of the Valiants League Two games so far this season- starting in 13 out of 15 of them.

There is no doubt that at the beginning of the season it took a little bit of time for the former United man to settle in as the team needed time to gel together, considering that there were 15 new arrivals in the summer.

Although, once Clarke's outfit began to find their feet and became familiar with the 3-5-2 system, Wilson really has looked a danger going forward, along with forming a good partnership with Jamie Proctor- who is unavailable for a few weeks with a hernia problem.

His runs off the ball and his constant urge to look to get in behind always cause panic to opposition defences.

Then off the ball, Wilson always looks to press high up the pitch often leading to opposition mistakes, allowing the wing-backs to get in threatening positions out wide.

The only thing that is needed to be added to his game so far this campaign is goals.

However, after a scintillating goalscoring display yesterday, it would be expected that this would give him a massive mental confidence boost and surely he will see it as a platform to build upon over the next couple of weeks.

Wilson on what reason is for good form

After the game on Saturday, considering that Wilson has now netted 4 times in the last three games, when questioned on what his good form has to be put down to, the forward said: "Sharpness and fitness.

"Confidence as well that comes with the gaffer having confidence in me and the team as well around me.

"I just want to push forward now and hopefully that is a big springboard for what I can do."

Wilson, who is now only one goal away from his best goalscoring season, further went on to say that his manager's belief in him is massive to what he is doing on the pitch at the moment.

"The big thing is games and belief as well. I have played maybe one or two games that weren’t great, but just keep selecting me and hopefully, this is what you are going to get every so often.

"So I think belief is a big thing and with fitness coming with games, it is game after game at the minute, so the more I can play and the more hopefully I can get match fit and keep doing the things I do".

Overall, Wilson's showings of late will certainly be a huge sign of encouragement to Vale fans, who only in the summer lost their long term talisman Tom Pope, as they will just hope that he maintains this form and stays away from injuries for a large proportion of the campaign.

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