Dean Brill

Dean Brill

225px Brill training with Oldham Athletic in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Dean Michael Brill
Date of birth	(1985-12-02) 2 December 1985
Place of birth	Luton, England
Height
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Inverness CT
Number	12
Youth career
1995–2003	Luton Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2009	Luton Town	81	(0)
2006–2007	→ Gillingham (loan)	8	(0)
2009–2011	Oldham Athletic	58	(0)
2011–2012	Barnet	36	(0)
2012–2013	Luton Town	7	(0)
2013	→ Inverness CT (loan)	12	(0)
2013–	Inverness CT	49	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11 April 2015

Dean Michael Brill (born 2 December 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish club Inverness CT.

Career

Luton Town

Brill joined Luton at the age of nine, progressing through the Centre of Excellence and representing Luton Schools and Bedfordshire County Schools at various age groups. His abilities alerted the attention of bigger clubs, including Liverpool, but Luton fought off the competition to secure his signature.

Beginning the 2003–04 season as understudy to Rob Beckwith, Brill made his league debut as a substitute in a 3–0 loss at Oldham Athletic after Beckwith had been sent off. His full league debut came three weeks later in a 3–1 home win over Wycombe Wanderers and he retained his place for the following two matches, a 1–0 win at Stevenage Borough in the Football League Trophy and a 4–2 loss in the league at Brentford.

With regular goalkeeper Marlon Beresford unavailable, Brill started the 2005–06 season as the number one goalkeeper, impressing against (then) former Premier League outfit Crystal Palace during a 2–1 victory at Selhurst Park on the opening day of the season.

Not rated by manager Mike Newell and goalkeeping coach Dmitri Kharine, Brill apparently gave Beresford no competition to be the number one goalkeeper during the 2006–07 season. His first starting appearance of the campaign came in a 3–2 home loss to Queens Park Rangers, where he deputised for the suspended Beresford. However, following the loan signing of Portsmouth's Dean Kiely, Brill was pushed down to third-choice goalkeeper and in December 2006, he was loaned to League One side Gillingham. He made 8 appearances during a month-long stay.
Having made 12 first team appearances for Luton, Brill was named Young Player of the Year at Luton's end of season awards.

At the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Brill appeared to be a player that new manager Kevin Blackwell was unsure of. This was reinforced when Blackwell considered signing two goalkeepers on loan, pushing Brill into the reserves. However, with Luton going into administration in November 2007, Blackwell was unable to take in a new goalkeeper on loan, so Brill went straight back into the first team. He went on to make 47 appearances in all-competitions for Luton during the season, a campaign that culminated in the Hatters finishing at the bottom of League One.

In the 2008–09 campaign, with Luton facing an almost impossible task to overcome a 30-point deduction, Brill started the first four games of the season. Unfortunately, after a costly mistake in a 1–0 defeat against Rotherham United, he was dropped for Conrad Logan. From, mid-January, Brill went on to play a further 18 games, including Luton's Football League Trophy victory over Scunthorpe United at Wembley Stadium. The points deduction proved too much to overcome and Luton were relegated for the third successive season, dropping into the Football Conference.

Brill was released on 27 May 2009 after coming to the end of his contract with Luton.

Oldham Athletic

On 1 July 2009, Brill signed a two-year contract with Oldham Athletic. He was released by the club in May 2011, when he was told by manager Paul Dickov that he would not be having his two-year contract renewed.

Barnet

After trials at Yeovil Town and Barnet, Brill signed for the Bees in time for the beginning of the 2011–12 season. He kept a clean sheet on his debut away to Morecambe. Brill made a crucial save in the dying seconds of Barnet's final day 2–1 away win at Burton Albion, which kept Barnet in Football League at the expense of Hereford In May 2012, Brill was released by Barnet on the expiry of his contract.

Return to Luton Town

After spending three weeks on trial during pre-season with former club Luton Town, who were in the Conference Premier, Brill signed a two-year contract with them on 31 July 2012. He played in eight games over the course of the 2012–13 season, but was transfer listed by the club in April 2013.

Inverness CT

In July 2013 Brill signed on loan for Inverness CT until January 2014. He made his debut on 3 August in a 3–0 win over St Mirren, keeping his first of three consecutive clean sheets for Inverness.

After a successful spell on loan, Brill signed a permanent deal with Inverness in November 2013 after Luton agreed to release him from the remainder of his contract.

Between May and September 2014, Brill kept a series of clean sheets, enabling Inverness to achieve a club record of 616 minutes without conceding.
Later in the season, Brill suffered an injury which kept him out for a few matches - but worse was to follow, as he sustained a dislocated knee only minutes into his comeback game.

Honours

• 2008–09: Football League Trophy – Luton Town

External links

• Dean Brill career statistics at Soccerbase