Matty Pearson: The Goal-Scoring Centre-Back With a Utility Player’s Versatility
Huddersfield’s Matty Pearson is known for his goal-scoring knack and versatile playing style. From center-back to midfield, discover how his journey has shaped him into a valuable asset on the field.
Image Credits: William Early/Getty Images
Some centre-backs just seem to have the golden touch in front of the opposition goal, and Matty Pearson is one of those players.
A Centre-Back with a Knack for Goals
Pearson was out of the Huddersfield side amid heavy competition at the start of the season, but marked his first league start of the campaign with a goal against Reading before having a second effort chalked off for an offside against a teammate.
The sight of Pearson on the scoresheet is fairly routine at this point. Having scored 11 in 89 league appearances for Accrington and 10 in 128 for Luton earlier in his career, the centre-back was, for a spell, the Terriers’ top scorer during their unexpected drive to the play-off final in 2021/22 after an early-season flurry.
Instinct, Luck, and Practice: Pearson's Secret to Scoring
A run of four goals in three games under Neil Warnock the following season was then crucial in helping the team pull off an incredible escape from relegation.
So why do some centre-backs seem to have the knack while others rarely trouble the opposition goal?
“It must be something that I've got,” Pearson told SportsBoom.com. “I think it’s probably just an instinct – you've sort of got it, you’re good at getting on the end of things, and you need a bit of luck along the way as well.”
“I’d like to think I've scored quite a lot of goals compared to the position I play. I think I got nine in a season with Accrington in League Two.”
“We do work on it. It's not a case of just turning up and, and thinking it's just going to happen. We actually work on where the ball's going to go, the runs that we make, where we can get somebody free.”
So it's not just off the cuff – but with regards to getting on the end of things, just having the desire to connect with the balls is probably one of the main things – making sure you have the ball as it's coming in and just a hundred percent going for it.
Matty Pearson
From Right-Back to Centre-Midfield: A Utility Player’s Journey
Pearson has been firmly established as a centre-back since making the move to Luton with 2018, but believes that his deployment as a utility man earlier in his career has helped him develop those attacking instincts.
“I’ve played right-back, left-back, centre-back, holding midfield. I think the highest I've been up the pitch is when I was at Halifax, I played almost as an attacking midfielder, to go and defend from the front. That’s probably where I got my flick-ons from,” added Pearson.
“I've never played up front but I've always somehow been amongst the goals.”
The What-Ifs of a Pure Centre-Back Career
But the 31-year-old also believes his versatility may have held him back in some regards, too.
“I’ve had this conversation with a few people, and I think if I'd have gone to centre-back a lot sooner, I think I'd have progressed higher, quicker I think it probably slowed my progress down, especially playing centre midfield in the Conference,” he said.
I think if I'd have been playing centre-back in the Conference, I might have moved on quicker than I did, but because I was a bit out of position, I’d get called on to play in left-back, right-back…wherever we didn't have a player, I would play in there.
Matty Pearson
A Team Player at Heart
“So, it may be slowed me down – but then again, you can look at it the other way. I can play numerous positions – maybe not so much now I've got a bit older – but it definitely goes both ways.”
“But I'd like to have seen if I’d been at centre-back quicker, if I'd have moved on quicker, because I had more experience playing there.”
“I’d never have those conversations and make a fuss about where I'm going to play, because I'm quite happy playing any position. I'm not fussed.”
“If you told me to play up front, told me to play in goal, I'd do it. I just want to play football. I think that's for the manager to work out what my best position is. I'm just a hundred percent all in, trying to do the best for the team.”
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.