Liam Maurice Adam Hatch (born 3 April 1982) is an English former

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 played as a striker and defender.

Career

Early career

Born in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, Hertfordshire, Hatch started his career with Kent League side

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, before joining

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne, Kent, Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury loca ...

in 2001 and moving to Gravesend & Northfleet in 2001. He was part of the side that won the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division in the 2001–02 season, resulting in

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

Barnet

Hatch moved to Conference side

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

at the beginning of the 2003–04 season for a fee of £23,000. He was a member of the Barnet team that won promotion to

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

in the 2004–05 season, scoring ten league goals. Hatch managed just five goals over the next two seasons for Barnet in League Two, prompting manager

Paul Fairclough Paul Fairclough (born 31 January 1950) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of the England C team. As a player, he made five appearances for Cheshunt in the 1981–82 season. Managerial career Stevenage In ...

to place him on the transfer list at the beginning of the 2007–08 season. However, he fought back into the first team in October, going on to score six goals in his next nine games. He totalled eight goals in the first half of the season, attracting the attention of other clubs. In December 2007, it was announced that Hatch would join

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

for a fee of £150,000 at the start of the January transfer window.

Peterborough United

Hatch joined Peterborough from Barnet in January 2008 for a fee of £150,000. He scored two goals in twelve games for Peterborough as they were promoted to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

. At the start of the 2008–09 season, with playing chances at London Road limited, he moved on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

. On 18 November 2008, in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

game against

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

, Hatch suffered a suspected broken neck after a collision with teammate Ritchie Foran, prompting the game to be delayed for 35 minutes. However, scans later confirmed that Hatch had not broken his neck in the incident. He returned to Peterborough on 5 January 2009, before returning to Darlington on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season on 8 January. Along with eleven other players, Hatch was placed on the transfer list at Peterborough following their promotion to the

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 ...

. Despite interest from twelve clubs, including three in

, Hatch signed for

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

on a season-long loan, with a view to a permanent move, on 5 June 2009. He incurred an ankle injury in pre-season, and did not make his first appearance for the club until 12 September. He played in three further games before being sidelined once more through the same ankle problem. He made his return nearly four months later on 27 January 2010, playing a key role in a 2–0 victory over

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which runs eas ...

. He started in a 3–2 loss to

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

three days later, scoring his first goal for the club. After the defeat, Luton manager

Richard Money Richard Money (born 13 October 1955) is an English former footballer and manager who was most recently manager of National League club Hartlepool United. Before this, he managed Cambridge United, overseeing the side's return to the Football Leag ...

singled out Hatch for praise, claiming he "has played bbsfleeton his own". On 7 May 2010, Hatch left Luton as a result of his loan period ending. Hatch rejoined Darlington in July 2010 on loan until January 2011.

Darlington

On 1 January 2011 Hatch signed for Darlington on a permanent one-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee, rejecting a move to rivals

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 ...

Gateshead

On 13 January 2012, Hatch signed for Gateshead, along with Jamie Chandler, for a nominal fee. He made his debut as a second-half substitute against

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

on 24 January 2012. He agreed a new one-year contract with the club in May 2012 to cover the 2012–13 season. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Hatch was released by Gateshead.

Return to Darlington

Upon his release from Gateshead, Hatch signed a one-year contract with

Darlington 1883 Darlington Football Club is an association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, England. As of the 2024-25 season, the team competes in the National League North, at the sixth level of English football. The club was founded in 188 ...

Sunderland RCA

In 2015 Hatch signed for Sunderland RCA.Hatch heads for RCA after leaving Darlington
Northern Echo, 22 July 2015

Honours

; Gravesend & Northfleet *

Premier Division winner: 2001–02 ;

winner: 2004–05 ;

* League Two runner-up: 2007–08 ;

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

winner:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatch, Liam 1982 births Living people Footballers from Hitchin English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Ramsgate F.C. players Herne Bay F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Sunderland Ryhope Community Association F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players England men's semi-pro international footballers 21st-century English sportsmen