Alex Pearce

Reading

Pearce was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire and attended The Oratory School in Woodcote until Sixth form, when he dedicated his time towards attending Reading's youth academy. He signed a three-year professional contract with Reading on 23 October 2006 and made his Reading debut in an FA Cup third-round game against Burnley on 9 January 2007, coming off the bench to replace Ívar Ingimarsson in the 74th minute. On 9 February 2007, he joined Northampton Town on a month's loan. He made his league debut in Northampton's 1–0 loss to Nottingham Forest, but received praise from manager Stuart Gray for his performance. He scored his first goal for Northampton in a 2–1 win over Scunthorpe on 8 April 2007. His loan was extended to the end of the 2006–07 season on 8 March 2007, returning to Reading in time to skipper the reserve team in the Premier Reserve League national final. In the final, Reading were crowned champions after a 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers, with goals from Alan Bennett and Pearce, to secure the trophy that had been won by Manchester United for the previous two years. On 2 November 2007, Pearce joined AFC Bournemouth on loan until 8 December, which was subsequently extended to 3 January 2008. On 21 December 2007, it was announced that Pearce had signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract. Nick Hammond said Pearce "has a superb work ethic and mentality which gives him every chance of a long and successful career here at Reading." On his return from…

Despite being born in England, Pearce qualified to play for Scotland through his parents, and represented them at youth level. He made his debut for the Scotland U21 team in their 4–1 defeat to Norway U21 in Kilmarnock on 20 May 2008. Also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland, having played for Ireland at schoolboy level he made the switch to represent Ireland. In October 2011, he stated "The country I have always wanted to play for is Ireland." Pearce was called into the full Ireland squad on 8 September 2012 ahead of an international friendly against Oman three days later. He scored a goal on his debut in a 4–1 victory on 11 September 2012. On 3 September 2014, he scored the second goal of a 2–0 win over the same opposition.

Since retiring from professional football, Pearce now has a role working as an academy coach at Reading.

Club

As of 8 October 2024

International

As of match played 29 March 2016 Scores and results list the Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pearce goal.