Scott Loach

Scott James Loach (born 27 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Derby County.

Loach previously played for Ipswich Town, Watford and Hartlepool United.

He has also spent loan spells with non-League Stafford Rangers and York City, and Football League clubs Morecambe, Bradford City, Bury, Peterborough United, Yeovil Town and Notts County.

Loach was a member of the academy at Ipswich Town from 1997 to 2000.

Loach moved to Southwell, Nottinghamshire, attending Southwell Minster School and playing for local club Southwell United from 2002 to 2003.

Loach joined Lincoln City's Centre of Excellence in April 2003, before signing a three-year scholarship in summer 2004.

In August 2004, he joined Bourne Town on loan, making two appearances.

In October 2004, he played on loan for Radcliffe Olympic.

He joined Boston Town in January 2005 on loan, which was extended until the end of the 2004–05 season, making 18 appearances.

In August 2005, Loach was loaned to Spalding United.

In November 2005, he had a one-match spell with Lincoln United.

He returned to Boston Town later that month, before a period at Grantham Town in March 2006.

Despite not being offered professional terms at Lincoln City, Loach joined Watford in April 2006.

He signed professional terms for Watford in June, with Lincoln City receiving a transfer fee of £50,000.

In pre-season 2007 he was on trial at Leeds United with a view to a loan move.

Although he played in several pre-season friendlies, the move did not come to fruition due to a transfer embargo as a result of Leeds entering administration.

In September 2007, Loach joined Conference Premier club Stafford Rangers on an initial one-month loan.

It was later extended to three months, and Loach made 11 appearances for Stafford.

At the end of the month he joined Bradford City, another League Two club, on loan until the end of 2007–08 as replacement for Donovan Ricketts, who was expected to move to Queens Park Rangers until he was refused a work permit.

Loach made his debut a day after joining Bradford, conceding twice in their 4–2 victory over Shrewsbury Town.

He followed it up five days later with a clean sheet against Macclesfield Town after he saved a second penalty at Moss Rose in as many months.

Loach played the remainder of the season with Bradford, making 20 appearances for the club, who finished in 10th place in League Two.

Loach returned to Watford and made his debut in the 1–0 League Cup win over Bristol Rovers.

He joined Morecambe on loan in January 2008, making his debut on 1 January in a 2–1 defeat to Stockport County.

He made only one more league appearance for Morecambe, during which he saved a penalty from Macclesfield Town's Martin Gritton, before he returning to Watford after just two weeks.

He made his league debut as a substitute on 20 September 2008 when he came on to replace Mart Poom in the fourth minute of a match against Reading.

Loach conceded his first Watford goal when the referee and linesman gave a goal instead of a corner, an incident described as a ghost goal.

The match finished in a 2–2 draw.

Loach remained a regular in the Watford team for the rest of 2008–09, under the management of Aidy Boothroyd, Malky Mackay and later Brendan Rodgers.

In August 2009, FourFourTwo magazine said Loach was the 'Key Player' in Watford's season and that fans should expect a good season from the young goalkeeper.

Newspaper reports linked Loach to Tottenham Hotspur as backup to Heurelho Gomes, however as Carlo Cudicini's alleged move to Portsmouth did not go through, no deal was ever made.

Loach made a good start to 2009–10 including a match winning performance against Plymouth where Watford won 1–0.

He played for England at under-21 level and in August 2010 was called up to the senior squad for the first time.

Loach was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and grew up in Halstead, Essex.

Loach featured in all 46 Watford league matches that season, and on 5 March 2010 extended his contract with Watford until 2013.

Loach retained his place in the team for 2010–11, and once again played all 46 league fixtures.

However, he subsequently admitted that his form had dipped towards the end of that season.

After 130 consecutive league appearances, Loach missed a Championship match for the first time since 2008 on 27 September 2011.

He regained the place from Rene Gilmartin a few weeks later.

Loach remained in the team until 18 February 2012, when he was replaced by loan player Tomasz Kuszczak.