Liam Hearn

His second came 3 minutes later when Duffy fed Hearn a ball over the top to shoot past the keeper, the hat-trick goal came in the 70th minute, firing a shot the keeper could only assist into the net.

Liam Michael Aaron Hearn (born 27 August 1985) is an English football coach and former footballer, he is individual striker coach for the youth academy at EFL Championship side Sheffield United.

Hearn played professionally as a forward for three clubs with a brief spell at Mansfield Town representing his only time spent in the Football League.

He most notably spent three years playing for Grimsby Town during their spell in the National League.

He managed to score 33 goals in 61 League appearances during his time with The Mariners earning several individual awards.

He also spent time with Lincoln City again whilst the club were in a spell of Non-League football.

At semi-professional level he has turned out for host of clubs which includes several spells with Alfreton Town with the first yielding 65 goals in 94 games.

He has also played for Hucknall Town, Eastwood Town, Quorn, Chasetown, Barrow, Harrogate Town, Ilkeston, Basford United and Tamworth.

Hearn's fourth goal of the afternoon came in the 86th minute when he took the ball past the defence and the keeper to slide home and put Grimsby 4–1 up, the game finished a 5–2 victory to the Mariners.

He joined Hucknall in the 2003–04 season and he went on to be top goal scorer at Watnall Road.

During his debut season, and at the age of 19, he finished with 16 goals in the Northern Premier League.

He moved on to Eastwood Town another Nottinghamshire based team, before joining Chasetown in the summer.

In Christmas 2006, he joined Leicestershire-based Northern Premier League Division One South team Quorn where he scored 13 times in the remainder of the season.

Hearn then scored six in the 2008–09 season campaign before moving to Alfreton Town.

Hearn completed his move to Alfreton Town on 22 September 2008, Alfreton having beaten off interest from a number of other clubs to clinch his signature.

On 22 November 2008 in the FA Trophy third qualifying round, Hearn came on as a last minute substitute and scored against Blyth Spartans to win the game 4–3 and to assure them to a victory to advance to the next round.

In 2009 he was capped by the England C team.

Since retiring, Hearn has worked predominantly as a youth team coach for Ilkeston and Alfreton Town before a spell as interim manager back with Basford United.

He has also worked for Mansfield Town, Derby County and Sheffield United.

Hearn was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.

began his career in the Central Midlands League with Santos FC where he was spotted by Hucknall Town scouts at one of his games.

Hearn was called up to the England national football C team – along with teammate Paul Clayton – to play a friendly against Malta under-21s at Hibernian in Paola on 17 February 2009.

However, due to having no passport Hearn was unable to make the call up even though dispensation from the Home Office to speed up the process to two weeks was not enough.

Alfreton Town manager Nicky Law hailed Liam Hearn "He is probably the best ever find I have made in football management anywhere."

At Alfreton he scored 71 goals in 110 appearances.

The striker netted 31 goals in his final season as Alfreton won promotion to the Conference Premier, finishing the top scorer in the Conference North, this also earned him the divisional player of the year award in the 2010–11 season.

Hearn signed a three-year contract with Grimsby Town on 17 June 2011, for a £30,000 transfer fee.

His first goal for Grimsby came 11 games into the 2011–12 season against Wrexham, a through ball from Craig Disley firing a low shot past Chris Maxwell.

The following week he scored 4 goals against his former club Alfreton on 1 October 2011, scoring the equaliser on 57 minutes finishing from close range.

Two games later on 11 October 2011, Hearn scored his 2nd hat-trick of the campaign in a 5–2 win over Barrow, he scored the first after racing clear of the defence to shoot underneath the keeper, after Barrow equalised, Hearn scored his second in first-half stoppage time, a one-two with Craig Disley put him in on goal holding off his marker, he side-footed home this time with his left-foot, his third came on 75 minutes, muscling his way through to turn in the box and beat Hurst with a low shot from six yards.

Hearn helped Grimsby to a 5–0 rout over Ashington in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup on 29 October 2011, Coulson and Duffy combined on 38 minutes to put Hearn through, who skipped round Dryden the keeper, before his first shot effort was well saved by Dryden, but he made no mistake at the second attempt; two minutes later another ball from Robert Duffy to Hearn who then muscled through the defence, scoring past Dryden from 10 yards.

On 26 November 2011, he scored two more goals in a 2–1 victory at Kettering, scoring the first on 14 minutes when Hearn read a lofted ball forward and muscled past defender Jamie Navarro before slotting past goalkeeper Aldi Haxia's goal from a tight angle, his second came when Michael Coulson whipped in a cross that wasn't cleared, Hearn unleashed a superb right-footed shot on the turn, across goal and in off the far post for his 10th league goal of the season.

Grimsby's biggest win of the season came on 29 November 2011 in a 7–0 thrashing over Stockport County, Hearn scored his third hat-trick, on 22 minutes Grimsby were 2–0 up when Jamie Green from inside the box squared to the unmarked Hearn who scored a tap-in to the bottom left corner of the goal inside the area, on 45 minutes Hearn put Grimsby 5–0 up when Anthony Elding found Hearn who struck from 10 yards out, on 58 minutes Jamie Green took a corner which was met by Charlie I'Anson providing the knockdown to Hearn who then rifled into the roof of the net from a few yards for the 6th goal.

On 17 December 2011, Hearn scored a double in the 4–3 home win against Ebbsfleet United, in the opening 2 minutes latching on to a poor back pass, racing away and firing past their keeper, he scored the third goal for Grimsby on 13 minutes, Luke McCarthy's mistake, slipping a back pass through to Hearn who was composed and clinical as he shot beyond the keeper from inside the penalty area for 3–0.

On 26 December 2011, Hearn scored the crucial winning goal to put Grimsby 2–1 up in the derby against Lincoln City, Manny Panther combined with Craig Disley who then flicked it over the defence for Hearn to accelerate into the box, keeping his composure to fire under Farman and into the left corner of the goal.

The following calendar year he helped Grimsby do the double in a 3–1 home victory over rivals Lincoln City scoring the opening goal on 25 minutes, Conor Townsend beating the opposing defenders to curl in a cross from the left through to Hearn who lashed it home from eight yards.

The following Saturday on 8 January 2012 he scored twice against former club Alfreton, Townsend with a perfect long ball to Hearn who cut off the defence to shoot Grimsby ahead on 11 minutes with a low effort from the edge of the penalty area, a quality through ball from Andi Thanoj sent Hearn clear, side-stepping the on rushing home keeper to steer the ball into an empty net from 12 yards for 3–1 on 40 minutes, Grimsby ended up winning 5–2 thus doing the double over Alfreton.

After racking up 25 goals in all competitions by January, Hearn was reported to be amidst much transfer speculation with numerous clubs reportedly scouting; on 15 January 2012 Premier League side Chelsea and Football League Championship club Reading amongst other clubs began watching the forward.

Peterborough United Director of Football Barry Fry confirmed the club's interest in bringing Hearn to London Road.

On 28 January 2012, Grimsby released a club statement intending there desire to keep hold of Hearn at all costs.