Will Norris

Will Norris

Will Norris with Cambridge United in 2016
Personal information
Full name William James Norris[1]
Date of birth (1993-08-12) 12 August 1993
Place of birth Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Cambridge United
Number 1
Youth career
2006–2011 Northwood
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011 Hatfield Town 16 (0)
2011–2012 Royston Town 28 (0)
2012– Cambridge United 57 (0)
2012–2013 → Royston Town (loan) 28 (0)
2013 → Royston Town (loan) 6 (0)
2015–2016 → Braintree Town (loan) 24 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:00, 26 November 2016 (GMT).


William James "Will" Norris (born 12 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cambridge United.

Club career

Royston Town

2011–12 season

Without a club at the start of the season, Norris made an approach to join Hertfordshire side Royston Town who in the previous season had narrowly missed out on promotion after finishing 3rd in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division. He played a number of games for the reserve team where his performances caught the attention of then first team manager, Paul Attfield, who pulled him into the first team.[3] On 20 September 2011, he made his debut for Royston in a 4–1 home win against Haringey Borough in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division Cup.[4] Norris went on to make 41 appearances in all competitions in 2011–12 helping the club to secure the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division title and a cup double which included the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division Cup and the South Midlands Floodlit Cup. In the quarter final of the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup against Cambridge City on 25 January 2012, the game was decided by a penalty shoot-out in which Norris pulled off a number of saves in sudden death before scoring the winning penalty to send Royston into the semi-final.[5][6]

Cambridge United

2012–13 season

On 16 July 2012, Norris signed for Cambridge United on a two-year deal and was loaned back to Royston Town for the duration of the 2012–13 season.[7] After securing promotion with Royston as champions of the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division in the previous campaign, Norris helped the club to a 7th-place finish in the Southern Football League Division One Central.

2013–14 season

Having spent the first half of the season with Cambridge as second choice to Chris Maxwell, Norris rejoined Royston in December 2013 on a short-term loan spell.[8] He was recalled to make his first team debut for Cambridge in a 1–0 away win at Tamworth in the Conference Premier on 21 January 2014 in what was described by then manager Richard Money as a "mature" performance.[9] On 30 January 2014, he signed a new contract with the club which extended his previous deal by two and a half years to 2016.[10] He went on to make a total of 15 league appearances helping Cambridge make a return to The Football League, after a nine-year absence, via the Conference play-offs. Norris kept a clean sheet in Cambridge's 4–0 victory over Gosport Borough in the 2013–14 FA Trophy Final.[11]

2014–15 season

Norris made his Football League debut for Cambridge in a 2–2 draw at home Accrington Stanley on 11 April 2015.[12] He went on to make a total of 3 appearances in the league in 2014–15 as Cambridge finished 19th in their first season back in the Football League.[13]

2015–16 season

On 7 July 2015 Norris signed a new contract with Cambridge, which extended his previous deal by two years to 2018, and was loaned to Braintree Town.[14] On 8 August 2015, he made his debut for Braintree in a 1–0 away defeat to Chester City in the National League.[15] On his home debut for Braintree, in a 3–1 defeat to Lincoln City, Norris saved a first half penalty from Alan Power to prevent the visitors taking a 1–0 lead.[16] After a run of impressive performances, keeping four clean sheets in six games, he was named the National League's Player of the Month for October. His standout performance during the month came in a 1–1 draw away at second placed Cheltenham Town.[17] At the time of collecting the award Norris had amassed 9 clean sheets in the league; the most of any goalkeeper in the top 5 English divisions. On 9 January 2016 Norris was recalled from his loan with Braintree after impressing newly appointed Cambridge manager Shaun Derry in training and with his performances for Braintree.[18] During his loan spell with the Essex club, Norris made 24 league appearances keeping ten clean sheets. After being recalled from his loan he went on to make a total of 21 league appearances for Cambridge, keeping 9 clean sheets, as the club finished 9th in League Two. On 9 June 2016 Norris signed a new contract with Cambridge, which extended his previous deal by one year to 2019.[19]

2016–17 season

On 16 September in a league match at Doncaster Rovers, Norris saved a penalty from John Marquis to prevent the home side from taking a 1–0 lead.[20] 7 days later in a League Cup match away to Wolves, he was on hand again to deny James Henry from the penalty spot with the score at 2–1.[21] On 1 October in a league match against Accrington Stanley, Norris saved two second half injury time penalties with the score at 2-1 to Cambridge; first denying Chris Eagles and then Terry Gornell.[22] He became the first Cambridge goalkeeper to save two penalties in one game as well as setting a club record for most penalty saves in a season.[23] His standout performance in the game against Accrington earned him a place in the EFL Team of the Week.[24] A week later in a league match at Blackpool, Norris made his fifth penalty save of the season, denying Danny Philliskirk from 12 yards with the score at 1–0 to Cambridge.[25] The pair of goalkeeper gloves used by Norris in the game against Accrington were sold at auction for £1,000 with proceeds being donated to injured footballers Shaun Whiter and Joey Abbs who were victims of a hit-and-run incident.[26] Norris was nominated for the League Two Player of the Month award as a result of his performances in October.[27]

Career statistics

As of match played 17 November 2016
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hatfield Town 2010–11 Spartan South Midlands League Premier 16 0 — — 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 17 0
Royston Town 2011–12[28] Spartan South Midlands League Premier 27 0 — — 13[lower-alpha 2] 0 40 0
Cambridge United 2012–13[29] Conference Premier —
2013–14[30] Conference Premier 15 0 0 0 — 4[lower-alpha 3] 0 19 0
2014–15[31] League Two 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
2015–16[32] League Two 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 0
2016–17[33] League Two 15 0 2 0 1 0 3[lower-alpha 4] 0 21 0
Total 54 0 2 0 1 0 7 0 64 0
Royston Town (loan) 2012–13[34] Southern League Division One Central 27 0 — — 11[lower-alpha 5] 0 38 0
2013–14[35] Southern League Division One Central 6 0 — — 0 0 6 0
Total 33 0 — — 11 0 45 0
Braintree Town (loan) 2015–16[32] National League 24 0 2 0 — 2[lower-alpha 6] 0 28 0
Career total 154 0 4 0 1 0 34 0 193 0
  1. ↑ One appearance in the South Midlands Senior Floodlit Cup
  2. ↑ Four appearances in the FA Vase, Three appearances in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division Cup, Three appearances in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup, Two appearances in the South Midlands Senior Floodlit Cup, One appearance in the Herts Senior Cup
  3. ↑ Four appearances in the FA Trophy
  4. ↑ Three appearances in the EFL Trophy
  5. ↑ Three appearances in the FA Trophy, Two appearances in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, Two appearances in the Herts Senior Cup, One appearance in the Herts Charity Cup, One appearance in the Hinchingbrooke Cup, One appearance in the South Midlands Floodlit Cup, One appearance in the Red Insure Cup
  6. ↑ One appearance in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, One appearance in the FA Trophy

Awards and honours

Club

Royston Town
Cambridge United

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "findmypast – Search Results". findmypast.com. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Player Profile: Will Norris". Cambridge United FC. 28 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Will Norris: How an approach to Royston led to Cambridge United chance". Cambridge News. 27 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Match Report:Royston Town v Haringey Borough". roystontownfc.co.uk. 20 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "Norris heroics send Crows into semis". Royston Crow. 27 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Norris the hero for Royston". Hertfordshire Mercury. 26 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Cambridge United sign teenage goalkeeper Will Norris". bbc.co.uk. 16 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "Cambridge United goalkeeper Will Norris loaned to Royston". Cambridge News. 6 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "Will Norris produced a 'mature' performance in Cambridge United's win over Tamworth". Cambridge News. 22 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Duo Sign New Deals". Cambridge United F.C. 30 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "Will can't wait for Wembley return in FA Trophy Final". thefa.com. 21 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "Cambridge United 2–2 Accrington Stanley". bbc.co.uk. 11 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Will Norris taking the positives from Cambridge United's Sky Bet League Two campaign". Cambridge News. 6 May 2015.
  14. ↑ "Cambridge United keeper Will Norris moves to Braintree Town on loan after signing new deal". Cambridge News. 7 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Chester 1–0 Braintree". bbc.co.uk. 8 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "Braintree 1–0 Lincoln City". bbc.co.uk. 11 August 2015.
  17. ↑ "Braintree Keeper Takes October Player Award". thenationalleague.org.uk. 6 November 2015.
  18. ↑ "Cambridge United boss Shaun Derry urges Will Norris to play for keeps". Cambridge News. 11 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "Will Norris signs new three-year Cambridge United deal". Cambridge News. 9 June 2016.
  20. ↑ "Doncaster Rovers 1 Cambridge United 0". Cambridge News. 16 August 2016.
  21. ↑ "Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Cambridge United 1: U's show real guts to give Wolves EFL Cup scare". Cambridge News. 24 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Cambridge United 2 Accrington Stanley 1". Cambridge News. 1 October 2016.
  23. ↑ "Cambridge United view from the pressbox: Will Norris is a grand keeper". Cambridge News. 11 October 2016.
  24. ↑ "Sky Bet EFL: Team of the Week". EFL. 3 October 2016.
  25. ↑ "Blackpool 1 Cambridge United 1". Cambridge News. 8 October 2016.
  26. ↑ "Cambridge United view from the pressbox: Will Norris is a grand keeper". Cambridge News. 11 October 2016.
  27. ↑ "Cambridge United goalkeeper Will Norris in running for League 2 player of the month prize". Cambridge News. 8 November 2016.
  28. ↑ "Royston Town - Appearances/Scorers". Royston Town. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  30. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  31. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  32. 1 2 "Games played by Will Norris in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  33. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  34. ↑ "Royston Town - Appearances/Scorers". Royston Town. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  35. ↑ "Royston Town - Appearances/Scorers". Royston Town. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
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