Securing promotion with Wycombe Wanderers would cap off an incredible first season in professional football according to Brentford defender Alfie Mawson.

The 21-year-old, who had never played a Football League match before this season, has had a meteoric rise since joining The Chairboys on loan back in August.

He has been at the heart of a defence that has helped Gareth Ainsworth’s side reach the Sky Bet League Two Play-Off final and picked up six Player of the Year awards at Wycombe’s End of Season Awards Dinner.

On top of that he also finished runner-up in the Sky Bet League Two Player of the Season vote, chosen by managers from the other League Two clubs.

Speaking to Bees Player ahead of the final Alfie joked that he would have laughed if you had told him what he would achieve at the start of the season.

However, despite all his success so far this season he wants one more moment of glory this coming Saturday in helping Wycombe earn promotion back to League One.

“It has been very surreal and sometimes I wake up in the mornings and it is a bit of a shock to my system,” said Alfie.

“My life has changed in the last nine months especially from the back end of last season where I was in between things and I didn’t know what I was going to be doing at the end of the season.

“The turnaround to now is massive and if you had told me all this would have happened at the start of the season I would have laughed because it has come full circle.

“It has been brilliant and I have really enjoyed myself and winning at Wembley on Saturday would just top it all off.

“I never thought that this would have happened this season so I am taking it as it comes.

“We are going out there and doing what we feel is right.

“We are not changing for anyone or going away from what we want to do.

“We are not changing for the occasion and we are going to play the game not the occasion on Saturday.

“It would be a perfect end because we have been in the top three all season only to get pipped at the end by Bury.

“That was gutting but we didn’t let our heads get down.

“We have a lot of experienced players like Paul Hayes, Matt Bloomfield, Steven Craig and Sam Saunders and they made sure we were up for it.

“If you had said to me at the end of the season that you could go up automatically or go up through Wembley then I would definitely have said Wembley.

“If we can go there and make that a reality then I am all for it.”

Alfie’s fine form this season was rewarded with the Players’ Player and Supporters’ Player of the Year awards as well as Player of the Year awards from a number of Wycombe Wanderers supporters groups.

The 21-year-old defender said it was a great honour to win all those awards especially the ones from the fans who Alfie said have kept him going throughout the season.

“It was a shock to pick up all those awards,” said Alfie.

“I have been at the stage where you are at a club for a long while and new faces come in and the focus is on them.

“Maybe because I am new here, being on loan from Brentford, the focus is on me more.

“I am very proud to win the awards because the fans have done a lot for me.

“They have kept me going when I made my mistakes.

“They didn’t get on top of me too much thankfully.

“When they think I am doing well they will let me know and when they think I can do better they will let me know as well.

“I need that kick and I thrive off it because it makes me feel better.

“If I can make a fan cheer then it is an added bonus.”

Alfie joined Brentford as a 16-year-old from Reading and progressed through the Youth Team to the Development Squad in 2012.

After a couple of injury hit seasons with the Development Squad Alfie joined The Chairboys on an initial one-month loan ahead of the season.

The defender admitted he knew very little about Wycombe or about the Football League in general before coming on loan but was determined to re-pay Gareth Ainsworth’s trust in him.

“I didn’t know too much about it when I came on loan,” said Alfie.

“I got a call on the Thursday night from Gareth Ainsworth and he said that he wanted to take me on loan.

“I said of course because I wanted to be playing league football.

“I trained with the lads on the Friday and travelled up to Newport County on the Saturday and I haven’t really looked back.

“I was nervous before the game because it was my first game and I didn’t know what to expect.

“I had nothing to lose because the manager had taken a gamble on me and given me a shot for at least that game.

“The rest is history because I have shown that I can at least compete at this level and now I can kick on.”

Alfie has started all but one of Wycombe’s League and Play-Off matches this season, making a half-century of appearances in total.

He feels that playing weak in week out in the Football League has taught him so much about himself and what it takes to be a professional footballer.

“This year I have learnt what are my strengths and my weaknesses,” said Alfie.

“There are things that I need to work on and things that I need to keep working on because they are working for me.

“I feel like I have grown so much as a player but also as a person.

“I have matured massively as there is a huge leap from Under-21s to first-team.

“You can get wrapped up as an Under-21 in thinking you are a professional footballer but I didn’t feel like one until I went out on loan and was playing week in week out for three points.

“Young players can get caught up in how they are perceived off the pitch but I think that step up from Under-21s to first-team football needs to be made.

“I got to 20 and realised that I needed to kick on.

"Under-21s football wasn’t enough for me because I needed to know where I was at.

“To get a career in the game I needed to kick on and thankfully the manager gave me that opportunity and I haven’t looked back at all.

“You get a maximum of 20 matches in the Under-21s.

“There is a lot of training, and training is hard, but playing matches comes down to knowing your body very well.

“I have learned a lot about my body this year and thankfully I can train quite a lot and play quite a lot.

“I have had my injuries, which touch-wood I am over now, but I feel that as I have come through this season I have learned a lot about my body and I know what I can and can’t do.

“Over the summer I will need to keep ticking over.

“I will have a little break but I will need to keep fit and maintain what has got me this far.

“I have learned a lot about myself mentally and physical and I have grown-up both on and off the pitch.

“I think that has been evident in my performances.”

Alfie acknowledged that he has come a long way in just 12 months from playing Under-21 fixtures in front of 50 people at a training ground to walking out in front of an expected crowd of 40,000 at Wembley.

He admitted that he never thought he would get the chance to play at Wembley but now that chance has arisen he is determined to take it with both hands.

“It is going to be the biggest occasion of my footballing career,” said Alfie.

“I never thought that I would be stepping out onto Wembley.

“Saturday is going to feel very surreal and hopefully I don’t get caught up in the moment.

“There is going to be that little bit inside me that wants me to go out and enjoy the game.

“It is just another game although it can define what we do next season.

“I am not going to treat it any differently or try things that I wouldn’t try just because it is at Wembley and on tele.

“The manager has been big on saying that we don’t go away from what we have done all season.

“If we can get the fundamentals right then whatever comes on top of that will be a bonus.

“I want to embrace it and enjoy myself.

“The Strength and Conditioning coach joked with me last week that when I was young I would have played Wembley doubles and now I am going to be stepping out onto the real thing.

“Little comments like that just re-inforce that we have done well this season and come very far as a team and me individually.

“I could have been playing Under-21s football where it is a joy when you go and play at a stadium with at most 100 fans there.

“There are going to be tens of thousands of fans there on Saturday.

“I have started to get used to what the fans are like and I have thrived off it.

“There is nothing better than hearing them cheer when you do something right.

“I am buzzing because I have never been there before and I am really looking forward to it.”