SWINDON keeper Wes Foderingham admitted the ‘character building’ 2012/13 season will be firmly ingrained in his memory for the rest of his career.

The 22-year-old bounced back from being hauled off after only 21 minutes at Preston in September to eventually be named in the League One team of the year, in what were nine months filled with drama both on and off the pitch.

Foderingham and the rest of the Town squad had to deal with a transfer embargo, a change of ownership and manager Paolo Di Canio walking out on the club, and while the keeper admitted the drama was tough to cope with at times, he believes it will do him good in the long run.

“It’s been fantastic for me although I have had some well publicised ups and downs, but I have always tried to do my best and have shown good character to get back on the horse and produce some good performances to get into the team of the year.

“I’m proud of what we have achieved and it’s all character building, and it is a season I will remember for the rest of my career for sure.

“I have learnt how to deal with pressure situations because for a young man like me being in a pressurised environment is hard, and I have been in that a lot this season and sometimes I have not always come out of it great.

“But most of the time I think I have done well, and I am proud of that because not long ago I was playing for Bromley in non-league football.”

Foderingham had the chance to be the hero as Town’s play-off semi-final tie with Brentford went to penalties, but five perfect spot kicks from the Bees coupled with Miles Storey’s miss ensured the Robins’ battle back from 3-1 down was all in vain.

“When we came back from 3-1 down we felt like we were going to do something special, but to lose it like that on penalties at the end is really hard to take,” Foderingham said.

“They put us under pressure early on, and while we coped with it well in area we made some silly mistakes, and they punished us for them because they are a good team.

“We showed great character to get back into the game, and although we lost on penalties, when you think of everything that has happened over the whole season there has to be a lot of pride.

“The club have had problems on and off the pitch, the old manager left, we had the embargo, and we did well to stay focussed on the pitch to get into the play-offs.

“It was gutting to lose it in the way we did, but all in all we have to be proud of what we achieved.”