Joshua Mark Lillis (born 24 June 1987) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is currently goalkeeping coach at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. He began his career at Scunthorpe United in the League One and

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. He spent time on loan at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, before making a permanent move to former loan club

in 2012. In March 2020, he joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side AFC Fylde on loan, before moving permanently to League Two Barrow at the end of that season.

Club career

Scunthorpe United

Born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, Lillis worked his way through Scunthorpe United's youth system, and made his début as a professional at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on 22 December 2006. He spent most of his time at the Iron as the understudy of Joe Murphy, but has improved under the coaching of former

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

stalwart

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach, former professional goalkeeper, and goalkeeping coach and assistant manager for Gainsborough Trinity. As a player, he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier Leagu ...

. In January 2009, Lillis went to

on a one-month loan in order to experience more first team action. He made his début in 2–2 draw with

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

on 20 January 2009. His first clean sheet for the Magpies came on 14 February where Notts County beat Barnet 2–0. He returned to Scunthorpe making 5 appearances and 1 clean sheet. On 1 September 2009, he signed for

on loan as cover for injured Nick Colgan. He made his début on 5 September 2009 against Port Vale, in a 4–0 defeat. He made four appearances before returning to the Iron. On 30 October he joined

on an emergency seven-day loan. His début was in a 4–0 win over

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

on 31 October 2009. In July 2010, he was loaned to Rochdale again for six months. Lillis returned to Scunthorpe at the end of his loan spell, but found his chances limited at Glanford Park and was released in May 2012.

Rochdale

On 12 June 2012,

announced that he had signed a two-year deal to return to Spotland where he had previously had a successful loan spell. After impressive displays in Rochdale's 2013/14 promotion campaign, Lillis has since committed himself to Rochdale for a further two years. On 26 May 2016, Lillis signed a new two-year deal with Rochdale. Lillis joined AFC Fylde on loan until the end of the season on 6 March 2020.

Barrow

Following his release from Rochdale at the end of the 2019/20 season, Lillis joined newly-promoted Barrow as a player-coach in September 2020. He was one of three Barrow players to be offered a new contract at the end of the 2022–23 season. Following the conclusion of the 2023–24 season, the club announced that they had offered Lillis a new contract which would see him become full-time goalkeeping coach. In June 2024, it was confirmed that he had been unable to agree a new contract with the club.

Coaching career

On 11 October 2024, Lillis returned to former club Rochdale as goalkeeping coach.

Personal life

He is the son of former Scunthorpe United player and assistant manager Mark Lillis.

Career statistics

Honours

Scunthorpe United *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

runner-up: 2008–09 Individual *

Player of the Year: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lillis, Josh 1987 births Living people Footballers from Derby English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Scunthorpe United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players AFC Fylde players Barrow A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff Rochdale A.F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen