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 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 Barrow. He began his career at

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

in the

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

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 system ...

. He spent time on loan at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

, and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

, before making a permanent move to former loan club

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in 2012. In March 2020, he joined

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 ...

side

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 ...

on loan, before moving permanently to

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 ...

Barrow at the end of that season.

Club career

Scunthorpe United

Born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, Lillis worked his way through

'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 Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

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. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

stalwart

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper, who is the current goalkeeping coach for Grantham Town. As a player he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier League and Footb ...

. 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 Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

on 20 January 2009. His first clean sheet for the Magpies came on 14 February where Notts County beat

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; an ...

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 Nicholas Vincent Colgan (born 19 September 1973) is an Irish football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach at EFL League Two side Stockport County. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1991 to 2013 and first briefl ...

. He made his début on 5 September 2009 against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, 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 competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

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

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.

Personal life

He is the son of former

player and assistant manager

Mark Lillis Mark Anthony Lillis (born 17 January 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He is assistant manager of League Two club Scunthorpe United. Playing career Lillis was born in Manchester. He started his professional ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lillis, Josh 1987 births Living people Footballers from Derby English footballers 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 Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players National League (English football) players