Joe Williams looks back at Dangerous Dave’s time at Wolves and why Edwards is in the best form of his career.
David Alexander Edwards joined Wolverhampton Wanderers back in January, 2008 from Luton Town and has since played in three separate divisions in the Gold and Black. He’s scored 40 league goals to date, but a near 75% of those have come in the last four seasons alone. So how has it come to be that the 31-year-old is now an almost irreplaceable component of Wolves’ team today compared to when he joined?
When the Shrewsbury-born signed for Wolves he was severely hampered down by consecutive injuries in the earlier stages of his career. After his goal scoring debut to Scunthorpe United he was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to consecutive knocks. When he returned to full fitness the following season he struggled to break into the team with new signing David Jones preferred alongside captain Karl Henry for their Premier League achieving season.
Once in the top flight and with a new three-year contract under his belt he gradually became a more regular sight in the first team but come December of that season and he would once again be treated to time off the pitch, this time due to ankle ligament damage.
The following three seasons Edwards only managed find the net a mere six times and although injuries had a large impact on this, the current affairs at the club, such as the change in managers, the lack of quality signings and inconsistent results wouldn’t of helped his chances either.
It wasn’t until the start of Kenny Jackett’s reign that the midfielder really hit a true flurry of goal scoring form. Notching nine goals across the 2013/14 season he helped his side become the League One winners from the first time of asking whilst setting a new record points amount for the third tier reaching 103 points.
Since then he has continued to improve and perform on a consistent basis popping up at the most crucial of times. His customary late runs into the box have produced a number of memorable highlights in games such as the 4-3 victory against Leeds in 2015 or his more recent invaluable goals against the likes of Fulham and Barnsley respectively.
As well as recently becoming the first Wolves player since Steve Bull to score in 10 successive seasons, he is quickly approaching on the 300-appearance mark and will be looking to reach double figures for the first time in a season against Newcastle this Saturday. If he continues his form with the players around him, and is given the licence to roam forward he will surely beat this target and could well go onto being a contender for player of the season alongside the likes of Helder Costa and Matt Docherty. He will just need to stay fit and injury free.
Yet, other than just goals, Dave Edwards as a character has never come into question. His loyalty and pure passion for the club and the game is unparalleled and is exceptionally rare nowadays. He was well worth the two-and-a-half deal that he received last December and will hopefully continue his impressive run into the future at Molineux.
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