Ben Hinchliffe (born 9 October 1988) 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 le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

for club Stockport County.

Early life

Hinchliffe was born in

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

, Lancashire.

Career

Preston North End

In April 2006, Hinchliffe was given a one-year professional contract with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

after impressing in the youth and reserve teams. He was loaned out to

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Premier Division club Kendal Town at the start of the 2006–07 season. Hinchliffe made 10 appearances, giving some impressive performances before returning to Deepdale in October 2006, and needed knee surgery after picking an injury.

Tranmere Rovers

On recovery, in February 2007, Hinchliffe joined League One team Tranmere Rovers on loan originally for one month as cover after

John Achterberg John Achterberg (born 8 July 1971 in Utrecht) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for NAC Breda, FC Eindhoven and Tranmere Rovers. He is a goalkeeping coach for Liverpool. Club career Achterberg first signed for Tranmere R ...

picked up a knee injury, though this was twice extended, initially for another month and then until the end of the season. Hinchliffe made his Tranmere and

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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut on 28 April 2007, as a 21st minute substitute in the 1–1 draw versus Crewe Alexandra, following fellow goalkeeper Gavin Ward's dismissal for handling outside the box., Hinchliffe made his full a week later in a 3–1 victory versus

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

., his last game at the club. Upon his return to Preston, Hinchliffe was released, along with five other players, on 8 May 2007.

Derby County

On 10 July 2007, Hinchliffe joined newly promoted

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side Derby County on a two-year contract, teaming up with former Preston North End manager Billy Davies. He was released from his contract at the end of the 2007/08 season by new manager Paul Jewell.

Move into non-League

He subsequently joined

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

on non-contract terms. After leaving Oxford, Hinchliffe spent time playing for

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

and again for Kendal Town before joining

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

. In June 2011 he joined

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

. He moved on to

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

in May 2012.

Stockport County

In May 2016, Hinchliffe joined Stockport County and kept 29 clean sheets in his first two seasons with the club. Hinchliffe played every league match as County took the

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

title in 2018–19 and was selected in the league's team of the season. He remained number one choice at Edgeley Park throughout the entirety of County's 2nd stay in the National League. In the 2020–21 season Hinchliffe was selected in the National League team of the season, despite County missing out on promotion, losing in the play-offs to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. Hinchliffe was an integral part of County's title-winning season in 2021–22, a season in which he surpassed the 100 clean sheet barrier, becoming the first goalkeeper in the clubs history to reach such a milestone. He kept another 5 clean sheets as County secured the title with a 2–0 home win against FC Halifax Town. At the start of the following season he was criticised by manager

Dave Challinor David Paul Challinor (born 2 October 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers, Stockport County and Bury. He is the manager of club Stockport C ...

for a poor performance after Stockport lost their first

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

game 3–2 at home to

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

on 30 July 2022. After an injury to on-loan keeper Vítězslav Jaroš, Hinchliffe returned to keep five consecutive clean sheets to help County move clear of the bottom of the table in October. On 20 May 2023, he saved two penalties as Stockport defeated Salford City 3–1 on penalties to go through to the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. During the 2022–23 season Hinchliffe played enough games to trigger an automatic one-year extension to his contract. In the 2023–24 season Hinchliffe remained an integral part of County's team as the club clinched the

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

title. In doing so, he became the first player in the club's history to win three separate league titles with Stockport. In the same period, Hinchliffe also became one of Stockport's all-time top appearance makers after partaking in his 339th game for the club in a 2–0 win against Forest Green Rovers. In May 2024 Hinchliffe signed a two-year contract extension with the club.

Career statistics

Honours

Stockport County *

: 2023–24 *

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

: 2021–22 *

: 2018–19 Individual * Conference North Team of the Year: 2014–15 *

Team of the Year: 2018–19 *

Team of the Year:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Most appearances for Stockport County as a

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinchliffe, Ben 1987 births Living people Footballers from Preston, Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Preston North End F.C. players Kendal Town F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Bamber Bridge F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players AFC Fylde players Stockport County F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players