Simon Eastwood
 Eastwood playing for Blackburn Rovers in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Simon Christopher Eastwood | ||
| Date of birth | 26 June 1989 | ||
| Place of birth | Luton, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Blackburn Rovers | ||
| Number | 13 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Huddersfield Town | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006–2010 | Huddersfield Town | 1 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | → Woking (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2009 | → Bradford City (loan) | 22 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Oxford United | 0 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Halifax Town | 41 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Portsmouth | 27 | (0) |
| 2013– | Blackburn Rovers | 13 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 2007 | England U18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2007 | England U19 | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:46, 28 April 2015 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Simon Christopher Eastwood (born 26 June 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Blackburn Rovers.
Born in Luton, he began his career as a youth player with Huddersfield Town. He went professional in 2006, but struggled to break into the first team and went on loan to Woking in 2009 then moved to Bradford City a year later. He made a permanent transfer to Oxford United and in the following years he joined Halifax Town, Portsmouth, and Blackburn Rovers.
Eastmond has played internationally for England twice at under-18 and under-19 levels.
Club career
Huddersfield Town
Born in Luton, Eastwood was a Huddersfield Town academy goalkeeper who made two appearances on the substitutes bench in the 2005–06 season at the age of just 16 years old. At the start of the 2006–07 season, he was the third choice goalkeeper behind Paul Rachubka and new signing Matt Glennon. After Paul Rachubka's departure to Blackpool, Eastwood had been made second choice goalkeeper behind Matt Glennon.
Eastwood signed his first professional contract at the end of the 2006–07 season for one year. On 16 January 2008, he and fellow Huddersfield youngster Shane Killock signed new one-year contract extensions.[1] This was after he fell behind goalkeeper Alex Smithies in the pecking order. On 27 November 2008, he joined Conference National side Woking. His first appearance for Woking was in their 1–1 draw with Rushden & Diamonds on 9 December 2008. Following Huddersfield's 3–1 defeat by Crewe Alexandra on 21 February 2009, he was recalled by manager Lee Clark following an injury to Matt Glennon. Clark gave Eastwood his full debut on the last day of the 2008–09 season. This was due to regular keeper Alex Smithies having a shoulder injury. The game was Huddersfield's 1–1 draw against Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on 2 May 2009.
Eastwood was contracted to the Club until the summer of 2011. He was officially made available for transfer along with seven other players by Town manager Lee Clark on 24 May 2010. He left the club after an agreement had been reached to join Oxford United for the 2010–11 season on 4 June 2010 after only making one first-team appearance for the club.
Bradford City
On 25 July, he joined Football League Two side Bradford City on loan until the end of the year. He made his debut in the 5–0 defeat by Notts County at Meadow Lane on 8 August 2009. He returned to the Galpharm on 31 December, after Bradford manager Stuart McCall said he needed a more experienced goalkeeper than Eastwood at the club.[2]
Oxford United
On 4 June 2010, Eastwood signed for newly promoted Oxford United, after an agreement had been reached between the Oxford and Huddersfield, in a two-year contract.[3] However, Eastwood failed to make an appearance in the club, and was a second-choice goalkeeper behind Ryan Clarke who made 46 appearances in the season. After one season at Oxford, Eastwood was released in May 2011 despite having one year left on his contract.[4]
FC Halifax Town
On 21 June, Eastwood signed a one-year contract with Conference North club FC Halifax Town.[5] On 13 August he made his debut, against Corby Town. He won the competition for first-team place against Phil Senior, making 43 appearances (41 in the league), only missing 3 league matches. However, at the end of the season his contract was not renewed and he was released.[6]
Portsmouth
On 8 July 2012, Eastwood agreed a contract with Conference North side Bradford Park Avenue.[7] However just five days later, after Eastwood chose to take a trial with Portsmouth, his contract with Bradford was rescinded, stating the club would not interfere his way.[8] After featuring in all Portsmouth's preseason matches, Eastwood joined Pompey on 13 August 2012, on non-contract terms, one day ahead of their League Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle, which he made his debut. On the eve of the new league season, Portsmouth signed their entire new squad, including signing Mikkel Andersen from Reading on loan. Andersen secured first place in the team meaning Eastwood was on the bench[9][10][11] Eastwood played his second game on 9 October, in a Football League Trophy 2nd round match against Wycombe Wanderers, which the club failed to progress in this match after losing 3–1. However, Eastwood managed to save a penalty although the rebound was scored by Wycombe's Dean Morgan.[12]
Due to limited playing time, Eastwood was the main goalkeeper for Portsmouth's Development Squad. He made his third appearance and in a 1st Round FA Cup match against Notts County, on 3 November.[13] In the following Tuesday, he made his league debut at Fratton Park against Brentford, Pompey lost 1–0 in that League One fixture.[14] On 20 November 2012, first-choice goalkeeper Andersen made his last appearance for Portsmouth in a 2–3 defeat to Leyton Orient before returning to Premier League club Reading making Eastwood the only goalkeeper at Portsmouth, this meant he was secured in the first team. Just after Andersen's departure former Swindon Town goalkeeper Phil Smith was signed, initially as back up for Eastwood.[15] Eastwood's performances were a little below par from when initially taking the number one spot up until February 2013,[16] when former Portsmouth goalkeepr Alan Knight (famous for the most appearances for a Portsmouth player) came in as goalkeeper coach (after the departure of John Keeley.[17] As soon as Knight came in, Eastwood performance vastly improved[18] and on 2 March 2013, Pompey won their first game in over 4 months (23 games), a 2–1 win at Crewe, this was Eastwood's first win whilst playing for Portsmouth. In the next month he went on to keep 3 clean sheets in 6 against Bury, Preston and Tranmere Rovers in a good run of games for Pompey. Following Portsmouth's relegation, Eastwood said he was determined to remain to stay at the club for the next season.[19] He was also offered a new deal with the club.[20]
Blackburn Rovers
On 13 May 2013, Eastwood agreed a deal in principle to join Championship club Blackburn Rovers.[21] He made his debut for the club on 7 August 2013 in a first round League Cup tie against Carlisle United. In December he displaced Jake Kean as first-choice goalkeeper making his Championship debut for the club on 7 December 2013 in an away game against QPR putting in an impressive performance and keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw. After seven games of being first-choice Eastwood then returned to being back-up as Paul Robinson returned from injury and reclaimed his number one spot. On 28 February 2014, Eastwood signed a new contract until the summer of 2016.[22]
International career
On 27 March 2007, he received his first call-up to the England U-18 team, where he played in their 4–1 win against Netherlands U-18's at Huish Park. On 30 August 2007, he received his first call-up for the England U-19s in a match against Belarus under-19s at Meadow Lane. He played the whole 90 minutes of the game on 11 September, and kept a clean sheet as England won 4–0.
Career statistics
- As of match played 20 January 2014
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other1 | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Huddersfield Town | 2008–09 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Subtotal | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Woking (loan) | 2008–09 | 12 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | ||
| Subtotal | 12 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | |||
| Bradford City (loan) | 2009–10 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| Subtotal | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
| Oxford United | 2010–11 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| Subtotal | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| FC Halifax Town | 2011–12 | 41 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 43 | 0 | ||
| Subtotal | 41 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 43 | 0 | |||
| Portsmouth | 2012–13 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| Subtotal | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
| Blackburn | 2013–14 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 2014–15 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| Subtotal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Career Total | 111 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 125 | 0 | |
1 Including the Football League Trophy.
References
- ↑ "Terriers youngsters sign on". Sky Sports. 16 January 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
- ↑ "Bantams let Eastwood go". Sky Sports. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ↑ Oxford United sign Huddersfield keeper Simon Eastwood; BBC Sport, 4 June 2010
- ↑ Oxford United release Midson, Sangare, Hanson, Eastwood; BBC Sport, 10 May 2011
- ↑ Shaymen Sign New Keeper; Football Conference, 21 June 2011
- ↑ Shaymen release Eastwood; Blue Square Bet Premier, 14 May 2012
- ↑ Avenue Sign Baldry, Eastwood and Walker; Bradford Park Avenue's official website, 8 July 2012
- ↑ We Won't Stand In Eastwood's Way; Telegraph and Argus, 13 July 2012
- ↑ Pompey Sign Eastwood; Portsmouth F.C., 13 August 2012
- ↑ "Eastwood arrival prevents old school rules for Blues". Portsmouth News. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ↑ Plymouth 3–0 Portsmouth; BBC Sport, 14 August 2012
- ↑ Pompey 1 Wycombe 3; Portsmouth F.C., 9 October 2012
- ↑ Portsmouth 0–2 Notts County; BBC Sport, 3 November 2012
- ↑ Portsmouth 0–1 Brentford; BBC Sport, 6 November 2012
- ↑ "Keeper eyes extended run". Portsmouth News. 17 November 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ "Gauntlet thrown down to Pompey keeper". Portsmouth News. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ "Knight to make Pompey return". Portsmouth News. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ "Legend's backing for Blues keeper". Portsmouth News. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ "Eastwood sets his targets". Portsmouth News. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ "Whittingham lines-up quadruple swoop". Portsmouth News. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ↑ Eastwood rejects Pompey deal to join Blackburn; Portsmouth News, 15 May 2013
- ↑ "Keeper extends stay". Blackburn Rovers FC. 28 February 2014.
External links
| ||||||