Greig Spence

Greig Spence

Personal information
Date of birth	6 July 1992
Place of birth	Dunfermline, Scotland
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current team	Cowdenbeath
Youth career
	Rangers
	Alloa Athletic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2008–2009	Alloa Athletic	19	(4)
2009–2012	Celtic	0	(0)
2011–2012	→ Hamilton Academical (loan)	29	(5)
2012–2014	Raith Rovers	59	(20)
2014–2015	Alloa Athletic	27	(4)
2015–	Cowdenbeath	14	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:14, 20 November 2015 (UTC). † Appearances (goals)

Greig Spence (born 6 July 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Scottish League One side Cowdenbeath, as a striker.

Born in Dunfermline, he started his career at Alloa Athletic, breaking into their first-team at the age of 16. He was then signed by Scottish Premier League club Celtic in 2009. He was loaned to First Division club Hamilton Academical for the 2011–12 season. In July 2012, he signed a one-year contract with Raith Rovers. In June 2014, he returned to Alloa Athletic and in 2015 he signed for Cowdenbeath.

Career

Spence played for Rangers youth team as a schoolboy.^[1] He then moved on to Alloa Athletic where he broke into the first-team at the age of 16.^[2] His first start came against Queens Park on 16 February, he scored Alloa's equaliser in a 2–1 win.^[3] On 4 May, Spence scored Alloa's equaliser against Ayr United, drawing the match ensured that Alloa would not be relegated.^[4] After the match manager Allan Maitland praised Spence for how well he took his goal.^[5] Overall, Spence scored four goals in nineteen appearances for Second Division Alloa during the 2008/09 season.^[6]

Spence only played three times for Alloa during the 2009–10 season as he left the club in August.^[7] His only goal came in a 3–2 defeat against Ross County in the Scottish Challenge Cup.^[8]

Scottish Premier League club Celtic signed him in August 2009 for a six-figure fee.^[1][9] Spence missed the first half of the 2010–11 season through injury but came back to score in the 2011 Scottish Youth Cup Final.^[10][11] On 16 July 2011, Spence scored for Celtic's development squad in a 2–1 loss to Partick Thistle.^[12]

In August 2011, Spence moved on loan to Scottish First Division side Hamilton Academical. He scored his first goal for Hamilton in a 2–1 Scottish Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Morton on 4 September.^[13] Two weeks later he scored in Hamilton's 2–2 draw against Raith Rovers.^[14] On 3 November, he scored a 'superb' header in Hamilton's 3–2 loss against Ayr United.^[15] On 13 January, Spence scored the winner in Hamilton's 1–0 victory over Partick Thistle.^[16] The next week he scored in Hamilton's 2–2 draw with Ayr United.^[17] On 24 March, Spence scored the first goal in Hamilton's 3–0 win over Queen of the South.^[18]

Spence announced on his Twitter account in May 2012 that he was leaving Celtic.^[19] He then trained with Raith Rovers in an attempt to win a permanent contract.^[20] He signed for the club on 18 July 2012.^[21] He was part of the Raith Rovers team that won 1–0 against Rangers in the 2014 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.^[22]

On 24 June 2014, Spence signed for Alloa Athletic for a second time.^[23] He scored a hat-trick on his first appearance on 26 July 2014, in a Challenge Cup match against Arbroath as Alloa won 4–1.^[24] On 3 December 2014, Spence scored twice as Alloa came from 2–0 behind to defeat Rangers 3–2 in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup, the club's first ever win against Rangers.^[25] After one season with The Wasps, Spence signed for Scottish League One side Cowdenbeath.

Career statistics

As of 20 April 2015^[7][26]

Club	Season	League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Alloa Athletic	2008–09	18	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	19	4
	2009–10	1[27]	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	3	1
	Total	19[6]	4	0	0	2	0	1	1	22	5
Celtic	2009–10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2010–11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2011–12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hamilton Academical (loan)	2011–12	29	5	2	0	0	0	3	1	34	6
Raith Rovers	2012–13	32	11	4	2	3	1	2	1	41	15
	2013–14	27	9	4	0	1	1	5	2	37	12
	Total	59	20	8	2	4	2	7	3	78	27
Alloa Athletic	2014–15	27	4	1	0	2	2	5	7	35	13
Career Total		134	33	11	2	8	4	16	12	169	51

Honours

Raith Rovers

• Scottish Challenge Cup (1): 2013–14^[22]

References

1. "Alloa hitkid Greig Spence on verge of dream move to Celtic". Daily Record. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
2. "Spence, 16, has debut to remember". The Press and Journal. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
3. "Dream Day Out Is Still Playing on Our Minds". Daily Record. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
4. "Division 2: Ayr United 1 Alloa Athletic 1". Daily Record. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
5. "Jellema pulls out all the stops". The Press and Journal. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
6. "Greig Spence". Scottish Football League. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
7. Greig Spence career statistics at Soccerbase
8. "Ross County 3–2 Alloa Athletic". BBC Sport. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
9. "Celtic sign Alloa striker Spence". BBC Sport. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
10. "Greig Spence". Celtic F.C. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
11. "Celtic U19 2–1 Rangers U19 (aet)". BBC Sport. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
12. "Celtic XI go down to Partick Thistle". Celtic F.C. 16 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
13. McGilvray, Andrew (8 September 2011). "On loan Accies star Spence hopes to get in more goals". Hamilton Advertiser. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
14. "Hamilton 2–2 Raith Rovers". BBC Sport. 17 September 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
15. "Striker Greig Spence says boss Billy Reid was right to blast them.". Hamilton Advertiser. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
16. "Hamilton Accies 1–0 Partick Thistle". BBC Sport. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
17. "Ayr United 2–2 Hamilton Academical". BBC Sport. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
18. "Hamilton Accies 3–0 Queen of the South". BBC Sport. 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
19. "Twitter Greig Spence". Twitter.
20. "Raith Rovers v Ross County: new boss Murray keen to get up and running". The Courier. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
21. "Rovers Make Important Addition to Squad". Raith Rovers F.C. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
22. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26807030
23. "Greig Spence signs". Alloa Athletic F.C. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
24. "Arbroath 1–4 Alloa". BBC Sport. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
25. Moffat, Colin (3 December 2014). "Alloa 3–2 Rangers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
26. Greig Spence career statistics at Soccerbase
27. Rollin, Glenda & Rollin, Jack, eds. (2010). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2010–2011. Headline. p. 675. ISBN 978-0-7553-6107-6.