Paul Bastock

Football player infobox
playername = Paul Bastock


fullname = Paul Antony Bastock
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1970|5|19
cityofbirth = Leamington Spa
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=5|in=11
currentclub = St Albans City
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1986–1988
1988–1989
1989
1989–1990
1990–1992
1992–2004
2004
2004
2004–2007
2007–2008
2008-
clubs = Coventry City
Cambridge United
Sabah FA
Fisher Athletic
Kettering Town
Boston United
Scarborough
Dagenham & Redbridge
St Albans City
Rushden & Diamonds
St Albans City
caps(goals) = 000 (0)
012 (0)
028 (0)
027 (0)
501 (0)
000 (0)
001 (0)
116 (0)
019 (0)
009 (0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = England National Game XI
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = April 20 2008
ntupdate =

Paul Anthony Bastock, born May 19, 1970 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) is an English football goalkeeper currently playing for St Albans City. He has played professional and non-league football for over 20 years, making over 600 league appearances for eight different clubs including Cambridge United, Boston United, Dagenham & Redbridge and St Albans City. He is widely considered as the best Boston United player of all time, as voted by the fans in a recent poll.Fact|date=December 2007 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 also holds three club records for his previous club, St Albans. He has also played several times for the England National Game XI.

In his time away from football, he enjoys playing golf, snooker and cricket [http://www.sacfc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=37] . 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.

Career

He started his career in the youth team at Coventry City in the eighties where he won the FA Youth Cup in 1987. He was released by Coventry and signed his first professional contract in 1988 with Cambridge United where he stayed for one season. 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 1998-1999 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 again thanks to the shot-stopping of Bastock to the Football League Third Division. He won the Player of the Season award again in the 2002-2003 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 2003-2004 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 and then left on a free transfer to Scarborough. He stayed with the Seasiders for just one week, before being released and signing for Dagenham & Redbridge. He stayed there for two months, making just one appearance, before he was signed by then Conference South side St Albans City. He has played for the Saints until summer 2007, winning promotion to the Football Conference in the 2005-2006 season (when he won the St Albans Player of the Year award) and making well over 100 league appearances in the process. He set another three club records whilst with St Albans of most consecutive league games played - 84, consecutive clean sheets - 6 - and consecutive home clean sheets - 7. Bastock managed 84 league games in a row between his debut match on November 23 2004 against Hornchurch and November 10 2006 before he received a suspension for a red card he was given in an FA Cup tie against Yeading and finally missed a game. During his time with City, he won several Player of the Month awards. In 2006 he went back to Boston to become a part-time goalkeeping coach at the club. After retiring from football, he would like to coach junior teams.

Bastock was signed by Rushden & Diamonds on a one year deal on 18 May 2007 after leaving St Albans. Only to later rejoin the Saints later in the season helping them beat the drop.

Honours

* 1986-1987 - FA Youth Cup Winners, Coventry City
* 1999-2000 - Southern Football League Premier Division Champions, Boston United
* 2001-2002 - Football Conference Champions, Boston United
* 2005-2006 - Conference South Play-off Winners, St Albans City

External links

*Soccerbase|id=12597|name=Paul Bastock
* [http://www.sacfc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=37 sacfc.co.uk Player Profile]
* [http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/rollcall.html#Bastock Paul Bastock's Boston United Stats]
* [http://www.bostonutd-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadpcrr.asp?pid=111800 FootyMad Player Profile]