Lilley: Derek Symon (Derek)

1997-1999 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Paisley: 09-02-1974

Debut: v Blackburn Rovers (h) (substitute): 07-04-1997

5’11” 12st 6lb (1997)

Lilley began with Everton Boys Club but never made the breakthrough and returned to join Greenock Morton after a year there in August 1991. He stayed at Chappielow for five seasons and was a prolific striker, scoring fifty-six times in one hundred and eighty League appearances, of which twenty three were as substitute.Additionally he scored fourteen times in other competitions in twenty-one starts and nine times from the bench. Just before the transfer deadline George Graham signed him for Leeds United in exchange for a cheque for £500,000. His stay was not a happy one as he failed to live up to Graham’s expectations and his only goal for the first team came in a 3-2 away win over Barnsley, on George Graham’s birthday, and he was restricted to the odd start but more often than not as substitute usually unused. Lilley was loaned out to Hearts, in December 1998 and Bury, in March 1999 in his spell with Leeds, scoring once in five games during his three month stay with each of them. A fee of £75,000 saw him move onto Oxford United were he spent a further season and a half, and got regular appearance playing sixty-three times, including twelve from the bench, and scoring nine times in League games. Lilley was snapped up by Dundee United’s Alex Smith midway through the 2000/01 season for £100,000, and he scored on his debut against Rangers at Tannadice in a 1-1 draw. United were struggling at the bottom of the table, but along with other new signings Charlie Miller and Jim Lauchlan, Lilley helped turn things around as United reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and only lost three League games in the second half of the season. Lilley finished as United's top scorer, scored in a 2-0 win at Ibrox and scored the late winner in the second last game of the season at McDiarmid Park as United fought back from two goals down against St Johnstone to stay in the Premier League. Lilley wasn't as prolific over the next couple of seasons, scoring only 10 more goals, but returned to McDiarmid Park to score a hat-trick in a 4-1 win in 2002. When his contract ran out after the 2002/03 season, Lilley left for Livingston. In his two and a half seasons at Tannadice, he scored fourteen goals in seventy-seven League games including eleven from the bench. A rejuvenated Lilley scored twelve League goals in his first season with Livingston and supplemented this with four in the League Cup, including one in the final win over Hibernian and a hat-trick in the Scottish Cup. He did sign for Boston United in May 2004 but never played a game as he returned north of the border at the behest of his wife. He rejoined Livingston in July and after spending a further season there, in which he only managed three goals and his contract was not renewed. In his two years at Livingston he scored twenty-one goals from sixty-four starts and seventeen substitute appearances in all fixtures. He signed back on with former club Morton on a free-transfer. He stayed there for a season and a half and in total he clocked up over two hundred and thirty games with Morton, but in his last sojourn he scored twenty-two times from fifty-three starts and twelve substitute appearances in all games. After Morton cancelled his contract, he moved on to St Johnstone in January 2007 to try and bolster the Saints attacking options, but he found starts hard to come by and was released at the end of the season, having failed to score in any of his fourteen substitute appearances. Lilley was snapped up by Alan Moore in pre-season to bolster Stirling Albion’s strikeforce in July 2007. He made his debut in the 1-1 opening day draw against Partick Thistle, but he failed to score for the Binos after twenty-four games of which eleven were as substitute. He joined Forfar Athletic in May 2008.