Scott Loach

Scott Loach joined Derby County in the summer of 2022 to add valuable experience to the goalkeeping department.

Nottingham-born Loach began his career at Lincoln City after coming through their Centre of Excellence and was offered scholarship terms, having previous been on the books of Ipswich Town.

Although he didn’t appear for the Imps, he had several spells out on loan at Bourne Town, Radcliffe Olympic, Boston Town, Spalding United, Lincoln United and Grantham Town to gain experience.

Loach joined Watford in 2006, then in the Premier League, and had further spells on loan at Stafford Rangers, Morecambe and Bradford City to aid his development.

Loach broke into the Watford side in the 2008/09 campaign and made 163 appearances over the next four years the Hornets.

His next port of call was another Championship club in the form Ipswich during the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons, where he made 33 appearances, before joining Rotherham United to remain in the second tier ahead of the 2014/15 campaign. His appearances were limited with the Millers and he instead had loans at Bury in League Two and League One duo Peterborough United and Yeovil Town.

Loach returned to his hometown for the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons at Notts County in League Two, while he also had a brief loan stint in the National League with York City in the latter.

Prior to joining the Rams, Loach was a regular in the National League with two seasons registered at Hartlepool United, where he was Players’ Player of the Year on both occasions, a further two at Barnet as well as the 2021/22 season competing for promotion with Chesterfield as he closes in on 500 appearances in club football.

He acted as cover for first choice shot-stopper Joe Wildsmith during the 2022/23 season, as number two in the first half of the campaign and number three in the second half of the season, and made three appearances in the EFL Trophy.

Loach earned 14 caps for England at Under-21 level during his time at Watford and represented the Three Lions at the Under-21 Championships in Sweden, while in 2010 he was called up to the senior England squad as cover on two occasions. In the early part of 2022, Loach represented England C, which represents the national team at non-league level, for their challenge match against Wales.