Cameron Belford

Cameron Belford

Belford in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Cameron Dale Belford[1]
Date of birth	(1988-10-16) 16 October 1988
Place of birth	Nuneaton, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Swindon Town
Number	37
Youth career
000?–2006	Coventry City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2007	Coventry City	0	(0)
2006	→ Tamworth (loan)	1	(0)
2007–2013	Bury	78	(0)
2007–2008	→ Worcester City (loan)	22	(0)
2012	→ Southend United (loan)	13	(0)
2012	→ Southend United (loan)	4	(0)
2012–2013	→ Accrington Stanley (loan)	5	(0)
2013–2014	Tamworth	46	(0)
2014	Mansfield Town	0	(0)
2014–2015	Rushall Olympic	25	(0)
2015–	Swindon Town	0	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:30, 25 April 2015 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Cameron Dale Belford (born 16 October 1988) is an English footballer who is currently plays for Swindon Town. He plays as a goalkeeper.

Playing career

Early career

Born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Belford started his career at Coventry City and had a brief loan spell at Conference National side Tamworth during the 2006–07 season playing one game against Morecambe, where Tamworth lost 1–0 - his father Dale was on the substitutes' bench as back up goalkeeper.^[2] Belford returned to Coventry soon after the match and was assigned squad number 43, but was released by City in May 2007, without having made a first team appearance.^[3]

Bury

Belford warming up for Bury in 2008

In August 2007, Belford joined League Two side Bury on a one-year contract.^[4] With a lack of first team opportunities at Gigg Lane, Belford joined Conference North team Worcester City on loan for a month on 30 November, becoming one of Richard Dryden's first signings.^[5] He made his City debut on 2 December against Barrow at St George's Lane; the game was drawn 1–1.^[6] After impressing in the following games his loan spell with Worcester was extended until the end of the season.^[7] His impressive form continued for City and he won the club's player of the month award for March.^[8] In April 2008, Bury manager Alan Knill offered Belford a contract for the 2008–09 season.^[8] and he was recalled from his loan spell at the same time.^[8][9] He appeared in 22 league and 2 cup games for Worcester City.^[10]

On 3 May 2008, Belford made his debut as a 75th minute substitute against Accrington Stanley at the Crown Ground replacing Jim Provett with Bury winning the game 2–0.^[11] In October 2009 Belford impressed many against Rotherham United when he came on after 27 minutes into the first half when first team goalkeeper Wayne Brown came off injured. He made a number of fine saves and denied Ian Sharps from scoring a late equalizer. He kept the score down to 2–1 to Bury.

In the 2010–11 season he had established a number one goalkeeper spot after some fine performances in the latter part of the season before.

Belford scored his first goal for Bury in a penalty shoot out in a Football League Trophy tie against Shrewsbury Town after calmly saving a Danny O'Donnell spot kick and slotting home the preceding kick himself. The shootout finished 6–5 to Bury. On 23 October 2010 during a League Two game against Sothend United Belford suffered a serious facial injury in a collision with an opposition forward. The injury was a fractured cheek bone so manager Alan Knill brought in Owain Fon Williams to replace Belford. On 25 April 2011, Belford played and helped Bury gain promotion to League One in a 3-2 win at Chesterfield, during which he was victim of an assault on his problem cheekbone from a Chesterfield youth during a pitch invasion after Chesterfield's equalising second goal.^[12] On 3 March 2012, Belford joined League Two side Southend United on a one-month loan as cover for Glenn Morris. During that spell he helped the Shrimpers reach the League Two play-offs but was unable to help them progress beyond the semi-final stage.^[13]

On 14 August 2012, Belford returned to Southend for a second loan spell.^[14] He was brought in as Southend had no first choice goalkeeper prior to their League Cup fixture against Peterborough United. However, he made only 3 appearances after Southend signed Paul Smith to be their first choice goalkeeper. Once his loan spell finished, he returned to Bury, but ironically the next week Smith was injured in a match against Gillingham.^[15] Belford declined the opportunity to return to Southend for a third loan spell.^[16]

In late-December, Belford joined Accrington Stanley on a seven-day emergency loan deal, following Ian Dunbavin's injury and a cover for Paul Rachubka.^[17]

On March 27 2015, Belford announced on Social Media website Twitter that he had joined Swindon Town for the remainder of the 2014-15 season.^[18]

Club

As of 25 April 2015

Personal life

He is the son of Tamworth goalkeeper Dale Belford and the brother of Swindon Town goalkeeper Tyrell Belford.^[19]

References

External links

• Cameron Belford career statistics at Soccerbase