The Importance of Football Trials
Matt Smith From non-league player to FA cup hero
Matt smith has taken the football nation by storm after his heroic performances in the FA cup. Matt smith started his football career at Evesham United after attending Football Trials at the club. He spent a year at the club before being offered Football Trials at Cheltenham Town. Matt’s football career was in jeopardy when he was let go by Cheltenham Town.
Matt thought this might have been the end of his dream of becoming a professional footballer so he enrolled at university. Whilst at university Matt regularly attended Football Trials and was offered a position at several non-league clubs. Matt done extremely well at the non-league sides he played for scoring goals regularly for his side and played a important part in his teams 21 game unbeaten run. After finishing his degree at university Matt was approached by Redditch United who offered him Football Trials at the club. In his first year Matt was loaned out to Littleton FC. Matt was recalled from his loan spell at Littelton FC after scoring 9 goals in 3 games. Littelton FC released Matt at the end of the season, he was offered Football Trials at several clubs, and he accepted Trials at Oldham Athletic.
After impressing in his Football Trials at Oldham, he was offered a 2-year contact at Oldham in may 2011. Matt started off his professional career in the best possible way by scoring on his debut for his team. Matt found it hard to gain a regular place in the side after only scoring 2 goals in 5 months. He was then able to go on loan to league 2 side Macclesfield Town where he featured 8 times scoring 1 goal. Matt’s loan deal was up in January 2013 when he returned back to Oldham Athletic. Oldham Athletic was faced with a mouth watering FA cup 4th round tie with Liverpool. This is the game Matt made a name for himself scoring twice and helping his side progress into the 5th round. Oldham Athletic manager Paul Dickov then stood down from his managerial position at Oldham Athletic witch opened the door for Caretaker manager Tony Philliskirk. In Tony’s second game in charge Matt Smith came on as a substitute in the FA cup 5th round tie against Everton and made an immediate impact. His side was trailing 2-1 before smith grabbed a last minute (95th minute) equalizer earning his side a 5th round replay. It’s too early to say where Matt's career is going to take him but if he carries on working hard and impressing the fans no doubt Matt will progress.
