KEVIN Wilson sprang to international acclaim in the summer as a goalkeeping hero.

But what made his achievements so special is that he was homeless.

Kevin, 22, was crowned goalkeeper of the tournament in the Homeless World Cup for his brilliant performance in the England number one shirt.

He played in every game and pulled off a series of superb saves, including a penalty stop in the English side's group opener against Portugal.

England finished the tournament in a creditable sixth place, losing a hard-fought fifth-place play-off 5-4 to Russia.

The five-a-side tournament was held in Sweden over a week.

Kevin, who slept rough and at friends' homes before being given a flat in Marsh where he now lives, was among eight men chosen through homeless charity magazine The Big Issue in the North and charity Street League.

In the past Kevin, who is 5ft 1in tall and weighs seven and a half stone, even bedded down in Ravensknowle Park at Moldgreen three or four times.

He was born in Halifax and moved between three or four foster families around West Yorkshire, finally settling with Denis and Janet Gallivan of Wakefield Road, Moldgreen, at the age of seven.

He got on well with the couple's natural children, Anthony and Helena, and attended King James's School.

As a teenager, though, he admits he went off the rails somewhat.

"I left my mum and dad when I was 18," he says. "It was mainly my fault. I did things I regret like theft and getting into silly trouble with the police."

So he moved into a hostel in Manchester Road, Huddersfield, for eight or nine months.

When he got his own council flat in Dalton Kevin fell in with the wrong crowd and was assaulted, burgled, and had his flat trashed by "friends" who treated the one-bedroom flat like a youth club.

There was help on the horizon from Huddersfield-based Single Housing Accommodation Project.

Jonathan Abdy, of SHAP, who has been working with Kevin for the past three years, said: "Kevin really deserves this nomination. Hearing the news that he's been shortlisted has made my day!"