Paul Bastock

Paul Bastock
Personal information
Full name Paul Anthony Bastock
Date of birth (1970-05-19) 19 May 1970
Place of birth Leamington Spa, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Dunstable Town
Youth career
1986–1988 Coventry City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1988–1989 Cambridge United 12 (0)
1988 → Bath City (loan)[1] 1 (0)
1989 Sabah FA (0)
1989–1990 Fisher Athletic 28 (0)
1990–1992 Kettering Town 27 (0)
1992–2004 Boston United 501 (0)
2004 Scarborough 0 (0)
2004 Dagenham & Redbridge 1 (0)
2004–2007 St Albans City 116 (0)
2007–2008 Rushden & Diamonds 19 (0)
2008–2011 St Albans City 144 (0)
2011–2012 Boston United 49 (0)
2012–2013 Worksop Town 41 (0)
2013–2014 St Albans City 36 (0)
2014 Royston Town[2] 11 (0)
2014–2015 St Neots Town 33 (0)
2015– Dunstable Town 25 (0)
Total 1000+ (0)
National team
England National Game XI

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 02:10, 06 February 2016 (UTC).

† Appearances (goals)

Paul Anthony Bastock (born 19 May 1970 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Dunstable Town in the Southern League Premier Division.

He has played professional and non-league football for over 20 years, making over 800 appearances for nine different clubs including Cambridge United, Boston United, Rushden & Diamonds and St Albans City. He was voted as Boston's 'all-time cult hero' by viewers of the BBC show Football Focus in April 2005.[3] He holds the all-time record for the most ever appearances for Boston United at 625 games in all competitions, although only 501 of these were league matches. His record breaking 573rd game for the Pilgrims came in a Lincolnshire Senior Cup game against Scunthorpe United in August 2003. He has also played several times for the England National Game XI.

Career

He started his career in the youth team at Coventry City in the eighties and was a member of their 1987 FA Youth Cup winning side that beat a Southampton youth side including Alan Shearer and Matt Le Tissier.[4] He was released by Coventry and signed his first professional contract in 1988 with Cambridge United where he stayed for one season during which he also played once on loan for Bath City in October 1988, a 1–1 draw against VS Rugby.[1] He then moved to Malaysia to play in the Malaysian Super League where he had a short spell with Sabah FA. He then moved back to England to play in the non-league with Fisher Athletic. After a season with Fisher, he transferred to Kettering Town in 1990 where he spent two years.

At Kettering, he impressed and was snapped up by Boston United in 1992. His next twelve years with the Lincolnshire club were to prove the best of his footballing career. His first season with Boston was a disaster, with the club finishing bottom and being relegated from the Football Conference to the Northern Premier League. However, despite conceding 69 goals in 42 games, Bastock was still voted Player of the Season by supporters. He started to concede less goals the season after and Boston had a string of respectable league positions from 1993–1998 when the Pilgrims were moved to the Southern Premier League and their fortunes took an upturn. Bastock helped them to a second-place finish in the 1998–99 season and the team won the league and were promoted back to the Conference in 2000. He spent two seasons in the Conference before Boston were promoted Football League Third Division, Bastock missing just one game all season as Boston won the Conference.[4] He won the Player of the Season award again in the 2002–03 season, ten years after last winning it. However, his time with Boston started to come to an end when he received a knee injury midway through the 2003–04 season. He lost his regular place to the then substitute goalkeeper, Nathan Abbey. Abbey played well and Bastock could not regain his place in the first time after recovering, despite having been the first choice keeper for the past 11 seasons and missing just one game in the three years prior to his injury. At the end of that season, he left the Pilgrims to find first-team football. Whilst playing for Boston, he also worked as a care assistant in a nursing home.

He was awarded a testimonial match for his great service to the club before leaving to join Scarborough in October 2004.[5] However, he stayed with Scarborough for just one week, before leaving due to family and travelling issues.[6]

He signed for Dagenham & Redbridge later the same month.[7] He stayed there for two months, making just one appearance, before he was signed by then Conference South side St Albans City in November 2004.[4] He played in 84 consecutive league games for St Albans between his debut match on 23 November 2004 against Hornchurch and 10 November 2006 before he received a suspension after being sent off in an FA Cup tie against Yeading.[4] During the 2005–06 season he was named Supporters Player of the Year, having kept a club record seven consecutive home clean sheets and also equalled the record of six consecutive clean sheets home or away as St Albans win promotion to the Conference.[4]

In 2006 took a part-time position as part-time goalkeeping coach with Boston United, continuing to play for St Albans until May 2007 when he joined Rushden & Diamonds after St Albans relegation from the Conference.[8] However, he was released by Rushden in February 2008[9] and rejoined St Albans City the following month. Within six games of returning was named Conference South Player of the Month[4] He played a crucial role in helping St Albans escape a further relegation and was named as the Supporters Club Player of the Year at the end of the season, only the second player to with the honour twice.[4]

Bastock rejoined former club Boston United, in March 2011.[10] He left the club at the end of the season.[11]

After spending the 2012–13 season at Worksop Town it was announced he would be rejoining St Albans City for a third time for the 2013–14 season.

After one season with St Albans City, Bastock joined Royston Town in the summer of 2014, linking up with ex St Albans manager Steve Castle.

Bastock then moved up a division to sign for St Neots Town in October 2014 where he would go on to play his 1000th game in senior football.[12] However, despite being a regular for St Neots Town, Bastock was released by the club along with the likes of Matt Spring in 2015.[13]

Bastock then moved to league counterparts Dunstable Town in the summer of 2015.[14]

Personal life

In his time away from football, he enjoys playing golf, snooker and cricket. He is married to Ann and has two children, Laura and Callum. His favourite footballers of all time are Peter Shilton, Neville Southall and Chris Woods. Bastock's son Callum is also a footballer and a fellow goalkeeper. He has played several first team games at semi-professional level for Boston Town before moving on 22 February 2013 to Grimsby Town on a two-year scholarship deal.[15]

Honours

References

  1. 1 2 "Past players". Bath City F.C. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.roystontownfc.co.uk/teams/first-team/appearancescorers/
  3. ↑ "Boston's cult heroes". BBC Sport. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Paul Bastock profile". St Albans City F.C. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Scarborough to release goalkeeper". BBC Sport. 25 October 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  6. ↑ "Bastock ends time at Scarborough". BBC Sport. 27 October 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  7. ↑ "Bastock makes switch to Dagenham". BBC News. 28 October 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  8. ↑ "Diamonds swoop for veteran keeper". BBC News. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  9. ↑ "Veteran Bastock departs Diamonds". BBC Sport. 28 February 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  10. ↑ "Paul Bastock returns to Boston United". BBC Sport. 23 March 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  11. ↑ "Pilgrims announce retained list". NonLeagueDaily.com. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  12. ↑ http://www.hertsad.co.uk/sport/football/bastock_joins_st_neots_movement_1_3812865
  13. ↑ http://nonleague.pitchero.com/news/quartet-released-by-saints-39313/
  14. ↑ http://www.aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk/players/paul-bastock
  15. ↑ http://www.bostonstandard.co.uk/sport/boston-united/bazza-is-a-mariner-callum-bastock-switches-boston-town-for-grimsby-1-4818964

External links

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