From Tooting & Mitcham to the Premier League?.

One way or another that is the course being plotted by Michail Antonio, who has been one of the stars of the Championship this season.

Since being given his chance as a teenager by Billy Smith at Imperial Fields it hasn’t been a one-way ticket to stardom for the Nottingham Forest winger.

Now 24, despite not being particularly tall, Antonio could best be described as a 'unit' on the wing for Forest. Is there a wide man in the four divisions with a more formidable physique than the Londoner?

He may not always look the most cultured player, but nor was that other famous product of the non-league scene, Stuart Pearce, who signed him from Sheffield Wednesday in the summer.

Pearce famously combined playing for Wealdstone with working as an electrician before becoming the most formidable left-back of his generation in a career featuring 78 England caps.

Antonio has some way to go to match his mew mentor, but a career that showed promise at Reading and Sheffield Wednesday – via loan spells with Cheltenham, Southampton and Colchester – has really taken off at the City Ground.

He has also shown a hunger to succeed not always matched by those affiliated to a league club from a much younger age, having instead been at Tooting between the ages of 12 and 18.

His two goals in Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Watford took his season's tally to seven and he also has more assists than anyone in the second tier this season.

It’s not surprising the Forest fans have taken to him. When Watford did that daft thing clubs do by naming a home player man of the match whatever happens on the pitch, the visiting supporters quite properly drowned that out on Tuesday by chanting Antonio’s name.

Whether Forest get promoted or not the only way is up for Antonio – and it's more proof of how important clubs like Tooting & Mitcham really are - his coaches there can be very proud.