Alex Pearce

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Personal information
Alex Pearce

Full name	Alexander Pearce
Date of birth	9 November 1988 (1988-11-09) (age 19)
Place of birth	Oxford, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Reading
Number	35
Youth clubs
2001–2006	Reading
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2006– 2007 2007–2008 2008	Reading → Northampton Town (loan) → Bournemouth (loan) → Norwich City (loan)	00 (0) 15 (1) 11 (0) 11 (0)
National team²
2008–	Scotland U21	01 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:09, 7 May 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 11:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Alex Pearce (born 9 November 1988 in Oxford, England) is a professional footballer currently playing for Reading. He plays in the centre back position.

1 Club career
2 International career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Club career

Pearce attended The Oratory School in Woodcote until Sixth Form, when he dedicated his time towards attending Reading's youth academy. He signed a professional contract with Reading on 23 October 2006, keeping him at the Club until the summer of 2009, and made his Reading debut in an FA Cup third round game against Burnley on 9 January 2007, coming off the bench to replace Ívar Ingimarsson in the 74th minute.

On 9 February 2007, he joined Northampton Town on a month's loan.^[1] He made his league debut in Northampton's 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest,^[2] but received praise from manager Stuart Gray for his performance.^[3] His loan was extended to the end of the 2006-07 season on 8 March 2007,^[4] returning to Reading in time to skipper the reserve team in the Premier Reserve League national final.^[5] In the final, Reading were crowned champions after a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, with goals from Alan Bennett and Pearce, to secure the trophy that had been won by Manchester United for the previous two years.^[6]

On 2 November 2007 Pearce joined Bournemouth on loan until 8 December,^[7] which was subsequently extended to 3 January 2008.^[8]. On 21 December 2007 it was announced that Pearce had signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract keeping the central defender at Reading until the summer of 2010. Nick Hammond said Pearce "has a superb work ethic and mentality which gives him every chance of a long and successful career here at Reading."^[9]

On his return from loan he played in the FA Cup fourth round replay against Spurs on 15 January 2008 at the Madejski Stadium, with the new England boss Fabio Capello in the stands. Pearce was handed his full debut at the start of the game, and put in a very solid performance before being sacrificed at half time as Steve Coppell made a tactical change and went from 5-4-1 to 4-4-2. Coppell said "People will think the substitution was based on performance, but that couldn't be further from the truth. We just had a game plan and stuck to it."^[10]

Pearce made another loan move on 31 January 2008, this time joining Championship side Norwich City until the end of the 2007–08 season.^[11]

[edit] International career

Despite being born in England, Pearce qualifies to play for Scotland through his parents, and has represented them at youth level.^[1] He made his debut for the Scotland U21 team in their 4-1 defeat to Norway U21 in Kilmarnock on 20 May 2008.^[12]^[13]