Arrivals and departures - part five
Last updated : 10 September 2008 By @pnemad
Matthew "Matt" Clayton Hill was born on 26 March 1981 in Bristol. He began his professional career at his home town club Bristol City, making his debut aged 17 on 7 November 1998 in a 6-1 defeat to his current club Wolves. Hill made 3 appearances in the 1998/99 season and 14 appearances the following season. He progressed to become a first choice player by the 2000/01 season making 34 league appearances and won the Young Player of the Year. The 2001/02 season saw him score his first league goal in a 2-1 win at Swindon on 13 January 2002 and although he was injured for a time with knee ligament damage he won the Player of the Year and the Young Player of the Year for the second successive season.
For the next two seasons Hill just missed three leagues games and scored 5 goals and helped Bristol City win the LDV Vans Trophy Final against Carlisle in 2002/03. He twice came close to winning promotion with the Robins from the third tier, but they lost in the play-offs for two successive seasons. His 198th and last league appearance for Bristol City was in the 0-0 draw against Hartlepool on 28 December 2004.
The defender joined Preston in January 2005 in a £100,000 deal. The move came as a surprise as he thought the scouts were watching Danny Coles and Leroy Lita. Hill made his debut in the 1-1 draw at Deepdale against Leicester on 15 January. He made 14 league appearances during the season, but it was third time unlucky for Hill in the play-offs as Preston lost the final to West Ham.
The following season brought more disappointment as injury ruled him on four separate occasions including a sickening clash of heads with Paul Connolly against Plymouth. Hill made 26 league appearances and returned for the Play Offs but PNE were beaten in the Semi-Final by Leeds.
He recovered for the 2006/07 season to make 38 appearances during the season culminating in winning the Preston fans' Player of the Year Award.
The 2007/08 season saw Hill lose his left back spot to Callum Davidson but still managed to make 26 appearances. Hill made 105 league appearances for Preston in total and his last appearance for the club was in the 1-0 League Cup defeat against Derby on 26 August. Unfortunately although he scored goals for PNE in friendly matches he never scored a goal in a competitive match for Preston.
He joined Wolves on 1 September 2008 signing a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.
