Matt Derbyshire

Matthew Anthony Derbyshire (born 14 April 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for AEK Larnaca. He played for Blackburn Rovers for five years, and had loan spells with Plymouth Argyle, Wrexham and Olympiacos, before joining the latter club on a permanent basis in 2009. He played for Birmingham City on loan for the 2010–11 season. He won 14 caps for the England under-21 side.

Club Career

Early life and career

Derbyshire was born in Great Harwood, Lancashire and attended Our Lady and St John R.C. High School in Blackburn. He played football as a youngster for Darwen before joining Great Harwood Town in 2002. He scored his first goal for the club's first team as a 16-year-old, in October 2002, and by the time he left in November 2003, he had scored 26, of which 21 had come in the North West Counties League, and 18 in his last nine appearances.

Blackburn Rovers

He joined his boyhood club, Blackburn Rovers, in November 2003 for a £20,000 fee, a club record for Great Harwood. He had previously worked in the club's community department, coaching young children. He rejected a move to Manchester United in favour of Blackburn, whom he had supported since he was a child.

He had a loan spell at Plymouth Argyle but did not manage to score in any of his 13 games, resulting in Mark Hughes ending the player's loan early. He then joined Wrexham on loan for the final three months of the season where he made a name for himself hitting the net on 10 occasions from 16 appearances.

He opened his senior goal account for the first team in a 3–0 against Wigan Athletic on 1 January 2007 before extending his tally further with the opener away to Everton in a 4–1 FA Cup Third Round victory on 7 January. He made his first Premiership start against Arsenal on 13 January, and scored his third goal in four games against Manchester City.

Derbyshire's impressive form continued the following week with two goals and an assist aga

This page also has a version in other languages :  Мэтт Дербишир (russian)