David Crawford
David Crawford
David Crawford
● David Crawford (SKY)

born in Scotland

David Crawford was born on Sunday, 30th June, 1985, in Glasgow.

The 6' 2 (11st 13lbs) goalkeeper signed for Alan Archibald's Thistle on a short-term basis on Friday, 15th July, 2016, having most recently been with Alloa Athletic.

Aged 31, he made his debut appearance (as a trialist) on Saturday, 9th July, 2016, in a 2-1 friendly win away to Greenock Morton.

David kept his only clean-sheet on Friday, 15th July, 2016, in a 1-0 win over Airdrieonians in a League Cup group stage match.

He played his last game for the club on Tuesday, 26th July, 2016, in a 4-1 win away to Stenhousemuir in the League Cup, having appeared as a Jag on 4 occasions.

David's club-list included Queen's Park, Dumbarton, Alloa Athletic, Ayr United, Albion Rovers, Partick Thistle, Clyde, Stirling Albion, Montrose, Arbroath, Elgin City and Stenhousemuir.

Bio Extra

David began his career with Queen’s Park, and played his part as the club won promotion via the play-offs in 2007. He had a season at Dumbarton in 2007-08, but returned to the spiders for season 2008-09. Following Queen's Park's relegation to the 4th tier, David moved on to Alloa Athletic in the summer of 2009. He maintained his good form from previous seasons and was voted player of the year, although was disappointed to miss out on a promotion place. He moved on to Ayr United in the 2010 close season and made 18 league apperances, but his contract was not renewed at the end of the season.

For the first time in his career, David was not fixed up ahead of the new season and seemed to become the "go-to" emergency man for clubs, most likely as the result of an SPFL circular alerting clubs as to his availability. In August 2011, he answered the S.O.S. from Albion Rovers as both the club's registered goalkeepers were unavailable and, several weeks later, he did likewise for Jackie McNamara's Partick Thistle. With Ryan Scully and James Wightman being injured, David was drafted in to train with the club and made the bench for the league game away to Raith Rovers in mid October. Before the year was out, David finally got fixed up with Clyde, making 11 league appearances in the second half of the season.

Over the course of the next two seasons (2012-2014) David had two spells with Stirling Albion and one at Montrose, before landing at Arbroath for the 2014-15 campaign. There, he made some amazing history when he scored an 80-yard worldie against his old club; Montrose 1 Arbroath 5. Tragically, a bad injury a couple of weeks later meant that was the second last game he'd play for the club, where he remains a mystical figure in local folklore!

David had a second spell with Alloa Athletic in 2015-16 before landing once more at Firhill for a trial. This time, he got to show what he could do on the park and impressed in the final pre-season friendly at Greenock; Morton 1 Partick Thistle 2. With Thistle 2-1 ahead, the home side were awarded a spot-kick and it was ex-Jag Ross Forbes who stepped up to take it. David Crawford became the fifth Thistle 'keeper to save a penalty on his debut, following in the fine tradition of Robert G. Houston (vs St Mirren 06.01.1912), Willie Smith (vs Celtic 28.11.1953), Gary O'Connor (vs Hamilton Academical 02.08.1997) and Steven Pinkowski (vs Kilmarnock 15.05.2004). That was enough to seal a deal, and Alan Archibald added the newly-turned 31-year-old as a decent, albeit temporary, cover option for Tomáš Černý and Ryan Scully.

All 4 of David's appearances were made within an 18-day period, and the Jags won each and every game! They topped their League Cup group with a 100% win rate, David featuring in 3 of those 4 matches. Throughout his career, you'd not criticize him for feeling hard done by as he was shunted about from one club to the next, never really finding a home since coming through the ranks at Queen's Park. This continued in his final season and, just after leaving Thistle in the autumn of 2016, he had a short stint with Elgin City before a last hurrah with Stenhousemuir where he featured in 10 league matches in 2016-17.

(WS)



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