Connor Stuart Roberts (born 8 December 1992) is a Welsh semi-professional footballer 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

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

side

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

Career

Youth career

Roberts began his youth career on the books at his hometown club Chirk AAA FC before joining

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

at a relatively early age, then he was signed by Everton and would be part of the set up at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

for three years. In that time he was part of the development squads and Everton at both Under 18 and Under 21 levels. Roberts also featured in matches for the Everton XI alongside then youth players

Ross Barkley Ross Barkley (born 5 December 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Nice. Barkley began his professional career at Everton in 2010. After loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United he b ...

and James Wallace but did not break through in similar fashion.

Burscough & Colwyn Bay loans

In 2011 Roberts was given the opportunity to gain first team experience at Northern Premier Division side

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin ...

. Upon his return to Everton he was granted another loan, this time to Conference North side

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

. He made 4 appearances for the North Wales side in 2011 before returning once more to Merseyside. He was briefly loaned to Fulham and played for their U18 squad as he featured in the U18 Premier League Final at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

in 2012.

Cheltenham Town

Although he signed his first professional contract with Everton in 2011, a season later Roberts joined

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

in 2012 after being released by the Toffees. After a season at the Robins, Roberts failed to make an appearances, however he signed a new one-year contract in July 2013, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2013–14 season. On 3 May 2014, Roberts made his professional debut for Cheltenham in a 3–2 loss against Dagenham and Redbridge. On 13 May 2014 after two years at

Whaddon Road Whaddon Road, known as the Completely-Suzuki Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Cheltenham, England. It is the home ground of Cheltenham Town F.C. It has a total capacity of 7,066, with a mixture of seating and terracing ...

, Roberts was released by Cheltenham. In July 2014 he joined

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on trial and played in a 1–0 win over Swansea City under 21s in the Dragons' first pre season friendly. He played in a second game for the Dragons in a 2–0 victory over his former club Colwyn Bay, where he kept a second consecutive clean sheet for Kevin Wilkin's side, revealing he wanted to earn a contract at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home ...

Chester

On 28 August 2014, Roberts signed for

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

side Chester.

Bangor City

After being released from Chester, Roberts joined Bangor City in the Welsh Premier League.

The New Saints

In June 2018 he moved to

Llandudno

After making three cup appearances for TNS, Roberts joined Llandudno on a short-term loan deal. He made his debut in a 3–0 defeat against

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay ( cy, Cei Connah), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, lying within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, near the border with England. It is the largest town in ...

Aberystwyth Town

In August 2019, Roberts signed for

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men's football team in Ce ...

on a season long loan. In September 2020, Roberts rejoined Aberystwyth on a short-term loan deal.

International career

Roberts qualifies for both Wales and Northern Ireland. After progressing through the Wales under-17 and under-19 teams, Roberts made his debut for Wales under-21s in a 3–0 home friendly victory over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in February 2013. In May 2014, he received a call up to the

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

senior squad for a friendly international against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in early June. In March 2020, Roberts was called up to the Wales C team for their game against

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Connor 1992 births Living people Footballers from Wrexham Welsh footballers Association football goalkeepers Everton F.C. players Burscough F.C. players Colwyn Bay F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Chester F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Wales youth international footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Bangor City F.C. players Cymru Premier players The New Saints F.C. players Llandudno F.C. players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players