Simon Church: 2011/2012 Biography & Statistics

Career

Club

Church was spotted as a youngster while playing at a youth tournament and joined hometown club Wycombe Wanderers Centre of Excellence as a nine-year-old upon recommendation from the club scout. Five years later, he joined Reading's Youth Academy at the age of 14, as part of the Nathan Tyson sale to Wycombe. He was a regular in Reading's reserve side whilst still in the academy. On 6 July 2007, he signed a one year professional contract with Reading, but did not make a first team appearance that season due to stiff competition from the likes of Dave Kitson and Irish internationals Kevin Doyle and Shane Long.

Church joined Crewe Alexandra on loan for one month on 19 October 2007, which was subsequently extended to 19 January 2008 following rave reviews. He was put into the starting XI for Crewe on 20 October 2007 against Luton Town, where he wore the number 31 shirt and assisted Ryan Lowe for Crewe Alexandra's second goal. He scored his first goal for Crewe in a 2'2 draw with Cheltenham on 27 October 2007.[7]

Church joined Yeovil Town on loan for the remainder of the 2007'08 season on 29 January 2008. He followed this with a loan move to his hometown club Wycombe Wanderers at the start of the 2008'09 season.[9] His original month at the club was cut short due to a sending off and subsequent three match ban, but he later rejoined the club for a further two months on 20 October 2008.

On 17 February 2009 Church joined Leyton Orient, initially on a month's loan, but later extended to the end of the season.

Church made his full first team debut for Reading in the play-off semi-final second leg defeat to Burnley on 12 May 2009. With the departures of Doyle and Kitson, he became more of a regular in the first team and soon claimed a starting place at the expense of Long. On 19 September, he scored his first league goal in only his fourth start in a 3'2 defeat to Peterborough and dedicated it to his father who died earlier that month. On 2 January 2010 he scored against Premiership side Liverpool in the FA Cup third round as the Royals took a shock lead and held the Merseyside club to a 1'1 draw at the Madejski Stadium. The Royals went on to win 2'1 in the replay. Four days later, he was offered a new deal and extended his contract until 2013. In February, he scored a brace against Crystal Palace in a 3'1 win, which lifted Reading out of the relegation zone. Midway through the 2011/12 season Church hit form with 4 goals in 4 matches, opening the scoring against Peterborough, getting a brace against promotion contenders West Ham and earning a 0-1 win away at Leeds United with a well taken lob over Andrew Lonergan.

International career

Despite being born in England, Church qualifies to play for Wales as his grandparents are from Newport. He made his début for the Wales U21 team as a substitute in their 4'3 win over Sweden U21 on 21 August 2007. Church scored a brace for Wales under 21s against England under 21s as they lost 3'2 on 10 October 2008, in the 2009 European Championship play-offs. He also scored Wales's second goal in the first half of the second leg of the playoff against England, neatly lifting the ball over the on rushing Joe Hart but they lost 5'4 on aggregate to England, thus missing out on a spot in the final tournament. In March 2009, he was named captain of the U-21s.

On 29 May 2009 Church made his debut for the senior Wales international team in the friendly against Estonia. He received call-ups for the match against Italy U21 and a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Russia on 9 September but did not participate due to the death of his father. He scored his first senior goal on 14 November in friendly against Scotland that ended 3'0.