Neil Harvey

Name:Neil Harvey

Born:Aug 06, 1983

Position:Striker

Joined the club:May 2012

Previous Club(s):Retford United, Macclesfield Town, Marine

Neil Harvey is sponsored by:

Experienced Barbados International striker who joined the Pitmen from fellow Evo-Stik Premier League side Marine

Harvey’s career first came to prominence in three goal-laden seasons at Retford United, becoming top scorer in his first season as the club clinched the Northern Counties East League Division One championship. After averaging a goal every two matches, Sheffield United offered a trial at the end of the 2007-08 campaign, with Harvey scoring in a match against Lincoln City. By this point in his career, he had made his international debut, choosing to play for the country of his family’s birth, Barbados, scoring on his debut against Trinidad & Tobago.

Despite impressing at Bramall Lane, Macclesfield Town would snap up the striker for an undisclosed fee but Neil would return to Retford on loan after just a handful appearances for the club. He would once again prove profilic for the Badgers and fired them to promotion to the Unibond Premier Division for the first time in their history. Release from Macclesfield at the end of the season saw him rejoin Retford on a permanent basis, helping the Badgers to a top six finish in their first season in the Premier League. His scoring exploits once again attracted interest from up the pyramid and Marine snapped up the striker in June 2010.

In his first season on Merseyside, Neil scored 10 goals before another prolific season in 2011-12 saw him as the club’s top scorer with 17 – including the winner against the Pitmen when the teams met in January 2012.

Rob Smith, frustrated with the Pitmen’s lack of fire-power as Hednesford’s play-off run fizzled out with a 0-5 defeat at Bradford PA at the end of 2011-12, added Harvey and Aaron Rey to his squad alongside Michael Lennon and the returning Sean O’Connor to form a new four-pronged strike force who all played their part in the unforgettable 2012-13 promotion season – and Harvey became a fans’ favourite, not least because of some ingenious individual goals but also his “Usain Bolt” goal celebration. He netted the crucial early goal in the play-off final v FC United of Manchester from which the visitors never recovered.