By Nathan Jackson
August 29 2008
Rob Burch was the number one goalkeeper at Sincil Bank after replacing Alan Marriott in the summer of 2008. He spent two years at Sincil Bank and impressed many. He kept clean sheets in 22% of his games before leaving in the summer of 2010 to chase football higher up the League.
Signed From : Free Transfer
Debut : Rotherham United 1 Lincoln City 0 : 9th August 2008
Last Game : Lincoln City 0 Macclesfield : 8th May 2010
Rob Burch was a mighty sought after goalkeeper when he left Sheffield Wednesday. The former Spurs keeper alledgely rejected several offers from sides higher up the divisions for first team football at Sincil Bank. He, much like his predocessor Alan Marriott, began his career at the Tottenham Hotpsur training academy.
Burch made himself noticed almost instanteously with an impressive string of saves in his opening two games, that despite the Imps losing both of those matches. The Carling Cup First Round at Derby in particular was a great performance from Burch, keeping the Imps in the tie for long periods before City eventually fell to three well worked goals.
However, Burch also showed that he is capable of some terrible mistakes, gifting three points to a very poor Dagenham side. His inability to catch crosses at the time proved his downfall. He has also been beaten from long range on a number of occasions, although some of those efforts were unstoppable and would have been the vast majority of goalkeepers.
Burch showed in his opening appearances for the Imps that he is capable of becoming a highly skilled goalkeeper at this level, keeping his first clean sheet for the club in his sixth game, a 2-0 win over Barnet (although Barnet failed to have a single shot).
The former Spurs goalkeeper established himself in between the sticks for the Imps since his arrival, only missing out on a small handful of games due to an injury picked up in a game at Brentford.
Rob left in the summer of 2010 after rejecting City's offer of a new contract. He declared his wish to play higher up the League.
ROB BURCH'S CLEAN SHEETS FOR LINCOLN CITY | |
SEASON | TEAM PLAYED |
2008/9 | Barnet (2-0), Chester (2-0), Bournemouth (1-0), Gillingham (2-0), Shrewsbury (0-0), Notts County (1-0), Bradford (0-0), Port Vale (1-0), Dagenham (3-0), Wycombe Wanderers (1-0), Macclesfield Town (1-0), Accrington Stanley (2-0) |
2009/10 | Barnet (1-0), Bradford (2-0), Darlington (3-0), Aldershot (1-0), Macclesfield (1-0), Torquay United (0-0), Grimsby Town (0-0), Crewe (0-0), Bury (1-0), Macclesfield (0-0) |
