Loach: Scott

2007-2007 (Player Details)

Goalkeeper

Born: Nottingham: 27-05-1988

Debut: None

6’1” 13st 1lb (2007)

Born in Notingham, Loach moved to the Ipswich area at four years of age. He joined Ipswich Town at their Academy from 1997 to 2000. When his parents moved back to Nottingham he completed his final three months of his Ipswich contract by training with Nottingham Forest. He then joined and trained with Chesterfield for a season but had to leave when they went into administration. He then signed for Southwell United, but was spotted by Lincoln City and had an eight week trial with them before signing as a fifteen-year-old apprentice in the summer of 2004. He was sent out to several Non-League clubs to gain experience. August 2004 saw him play for Bourne Town, in October 2004 he played twice for Radcliffe Olympic. In January 2005 he went to Boston Town, a spell that was extended until the end of the 2005-06 season, but he also had spells with Spalding United and Stamford, where he played twice, and Lincoln United, where he had one game in November 2005, before returning to Boston Town in November 2005. He had one game with Nottingham side, Gedling Miners Welfare, and also went to Grantham Town in March 2006 for a spell. Despite being offered professional terms at Lincoln City, Loach joined Watford on trial in April 2006, officially signing professional terms for Watford in June with Lincoln City receiving a transfer fee of £50,000. He was on trial at Leeds United in the 2007 pre-season. They had a severe lack of goalkeepers at the time due to their financial situation. He went there with a view to a loan move, but it did not come to fruition. He went on the Leeds pre-season tour of Europe and played the first-half of the friendly with Union Berlin and appeared to have played well before conceding a goal before the end of his stint as Leeds went down 2-0. He played the second half of the game at Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic and made some good saves but conceded the goal in United’s 0-1 defeat. He played the full game as United went down to German side FC Energie Cottbus 1-2. He was again on for the full game as Leeds went down 0-2 at Burnley. He was again given a full game as Leeds won 1-0 at Darlington and then lost 1-2 to EPL club Wigan Athletic, but with Casper Ankergren returning after the financial impasse, he was reinstated and Loach returned to Watford. He went on loan for a month, which was extended to three months, with Blue Square Premier side Stafford Rangers on 17th September 2007. He made his debut for them in a 0-1 away loss to Salisbury City the following day and he went on to make eleven appearances, before returning to Vicarage Road on 2nd December 2007. He joined Morecambe on loan in January 2008 initially for a month, making two League starts and another in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. He made his debut on 1st January 2008 in a 1-2 away loss to Stockport County, but saved a penalty in the second To allow Morecambe to enjoy a 2-1 away win at Macclesfield Town, four days later. He complted a good week's work as Morecambe won 2-0 at home to Bury in the Football League Trophy on 8th January 2008 before returning to Watford. At the end of January 2008 he joined Bradford City on loan until the end of the 2007-08 season, making his debut on 29th January in a 4-2 win over Shrewsbury Town at Valley Parade before going on to complete twenty League starts, as the Bantams finished in tenth place in League Two. He made his Watford debut on 12th August 2008 in a 1-0 home win over Bristol Rovers in the League Cup First Round and also started in the 2-1 home win over Darlington, after extra-time in the Second Round, two weeks later. He made his Watford League debut as a substitute on 20th September 2008 when he came on to replace Mart Poom in the fourth minute of a CCCL home game against Reading, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Loach conceded his first goal in controversial circumstances when the referee and linesman gave a goal instead of a corner. He soon established himself as a Watford regular and his form was such that in February 2009 he was called up into the England Under-Twenty-one squad for a friendly match against Ecuador. He made his international debut when he came with twelve minutes to go as a replacement for Tom Heaton, as England lost 3–2. He made two substitute appearances for Joe Hart, after seventy-eight minutes against Norway in Sandefjord on 27th March 2009 and after eighty-two minutes on 8th June 2009 against Azerbaijan at Milton Keynes. In May 2009, Loach had been named in the England squad for the Under-Twenty-One Championships in Sweden in June 2009. He made his run-on debut on 22nd June 2009 at Halmstad in a 1-1 draw with Germany and he played just the first half before being substituted by Joe Dean at half-time. He started in goal for England in the 0-4 defeat to Germany in the Final and was to blame for the second German goal and by the end of the tournament he had started twice and come on as a substitute three times for the England Under-Twenty-Ones. He made a good start to the 2009-10 season including a match winning performance at Plymouth Argyle on 15th September 2009, where Watford won 1-0, and he consolidated his position in the team with some outstanding displays, being an ever-present in the 2009-10 season. He made his third run-on appearance for the England Under-Twenty-Ones on 11th August 2009 in a 0-0 draw with Holland at Groningen, when he gave way to Frank Fielding at half-time. Once more he was in the England squad for the regional qualifying stages of the European Championships, with the Finals due to be played in Denmark in 2011. He gained six more caps and played a full game in each of those games. On 4th September 2009 in Prilep, Macedonia were beaten 2-1, four days later there was a 1-1 draw with Greece in Tripoli, on 9th October 2009 Macedonia were beaten 6-3 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, on 14th November 2009 England defeated Portugal 1-0 at Wembley, three days later there was a 0-0 draw with Lithuania in Vilnius and on 3rd March 2010, England lost 1-2 to Greece at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster. In early March 2010, after interest from Tottenham Hotspur, Watford extended his contract to 2013. He was again an ever-present in the 2010-11 season. His last two Under-Twenty-One Caps came when he made his tenth run-on appearance in a 0-2 defeat by Germany in Weisbaden on 16th November 2011 and his fourth substitute appearance at Deepdale, Preston, in a 1-2 defeat by Iceland on 28th March 2011, which brought his total caps to fourteen. On 10th August 2010, after Ben Foster and Paul Robinson withdrew from the squad, Loach received his first call up to the full England squad for the friendly against Hungary. The following month, after Scott Carson had withdrawn from the England squad, he received a second call up to the full England squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland, but has not yet made the transition to the bench or run-on side. Early in the 2011-12 season after one hundred and thirty consecutive appearances in the League, Loach had a lapse in form and on 27th September 2011 he was replaced by Rene Gilmartin. He later regained his position but he was replaced by Tomasz Kuszczak, on loan from Manchester United, on 18th February 2012 and did not play again until the final game of the season.On 19th July 2012 he completed his perfect move back to the team that he had supported all his life, Ipswich Town. He signed a three year contract with an option for a further year at an undisclosed fee, thought to have been abargain, at less than £200,000. While at Watford he had played one hundred and fifty-three League games, of which one was as a substitute, and started five F.A. Cup and four League Cup games.