| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander James Pearce | ||
| Date of birth | 9 November 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Oxford, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Reading | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2001–2006 | Reading | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006– | Reading | 108 | (11) |
| 2007 | → Northampton Town (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| 2007–2008 | → Bournemouth (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2008 | → Norwich City (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2008 | → Southampton (loan) | 9 | (2) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008 | Scotland U21 | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:28, 28 April 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Alexander James Pearce (born 9 November 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Reading, where he has played his entire career, interspersed with loan periods at various clubs. He has made two international appearances for the Scotland under-21 team, but is also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland and England.
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Pearce was born in Oxford and attended The Oratory School[1] in Woodcote until Sixth form, when he dedicated his time towards attending Reading's youth academy. He signed a three year professional contract with Reading on 23 October 2006 and made his Reading debut in an FA Cup third round game against Burnley on 9 January 2007, coming off the bench to replace Ívar Ingimarsson in the 74th minute.
On 9 February 2007, he joined Northampton Town on a month's loan.[2] He made his league debut in Northampton's 1–0 loss to Nottingham Forest,[3] but received praise from manager Stuart Gray for his performance.[4] He scored his first goal for Northampton in a 2–1 win over Scunthorpe on 8 April 2007.[5] His loan was extended to the end of the 2006–07 season on 8 March 2007,[6] returning to Reading in time to skipper the reserve team in the Premier Reserve League national final.[7] In the final, Reading were crowned champions after a 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers, with goals from Alan Bennett and Pearce, to secure the trophy that had been won by Manchester United for the previous two years.[8]
On 2 November 2007, Pearce joined Bournemouth on loan until 8 December,[9] which was subsequently extended to 3 January 2008.[10] On 21 December 2007, it was announced that Pearce had signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract. Nick Hammond said Pearce "has a superb work ethic and mentality which gives him every chance of a long and successful career here at Reading."[11]
On his return from loan he played in the FA Cup fourth round replay against Spurs on 15 January 2008 at the Madejski Stadium, with the new England boss Fabio Capello in the stands. Pearce was handed his full debut at the start of the game, and put in a very solid performance before being sacrificed at half time as Steve Coppell made a tactical change and went from 5–4–1 to 4–4–2. Coppell said "People will think the substitution was based on performance, but that couldn't be further from the truth. We just had a game plan and stuck to it."[12]
Pearce made another loan move on 31 January 2008, this time joining Championship side Norwich City until the end of the 2007–08 season.[13] Upon his return to Reading he scored his first goal for them in a Carling Cup win over Luton Town on 26 August 2008.[14] He then went on loan to Southampton on 31 October 2008 until the end of December.[15] He made his debut at Preston North End on 1 November, scoring Southampton's first goal as they came from 2–0 down to claim a 3–2 victory.[16]
Following the departure of Reading's manager Steve Coppell and the arrival of his replacement, Brendan Rodgers, Pearce was appointed Reading's vice captain.[17] Due to an injury to new club captain Ívar Ingimarsson, Pearce started the 2009–10 in the first team side as captain. Pearce won Player of the Season for Reading in the 2011–12 Football League Championship winning season and was solid at the back all year whilst scoring goals of his own.[18]
Despite being born in England, Pearce qualifies to play for Scotland through his parents, and has represented them at youth level.[2] He made his debut for the Scotland U21 team in their 4–1 defeat to Norway U21 in Kilmarnock on 20 May 2008.[19][20]
Pearce is also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland[21] having played for them at schoolboy level[22] and could make a switch to represent Ireland as he has not yet received full senior international honours with Scotland. In October 2011, he stated "The country I have always wanted to play for is Ireland."[22]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2006–07 | Reading | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | |
| 2006–07 | Northampton Town (Loan) | League One | 15 | 1 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 15 | 1 | ||
| 2007–08 | Reading | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | |
| 2007–08 | Bournemouth (Loan) | League One | 11 | 0 | - | - | - | 11 | 0 | |||
| Norwich City (Loan) | Championship | 11 | 0 | - | - | - | 11 | 0 | ||||
| 2008–09 | Reading | Championship | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | - | 21 | 2 | |
| Southampton (Loan) | 9 | 2 | - | - | - | 9 | 2 | |||||
| 2009–10 | Reading | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 24 | 1 | ||
| 2010–11 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 24 | 1 | |||
| 2011–12 | 45 | 5 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 46 | 5 | ||||
| Total | England | 151 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 1 | - | 165 | 12 | ||
| Career total | 151 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 1 | - | 165 | 12 | |||
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