Matt Duke
Personal information
Full name	Matthew Duke
Date of birth	16 June 1977 (1977-06-16) (age 32)
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Hull City
Number	12
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
?–1999 1999–2000 2000 2000–2004 2004– 2005 2006	Alfreton Town Sheffield United → Bury (loan) Burton Albion Hull City → Stockport County (loan) → Wycombe Wanderers (loan)	0? (?) 00 (0) 00 (0) 78 (0) 24 (0) 03 (0) 05 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:06, 6 December 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Matthew "Matt" Duke^[1] (born 16 June 1977)^[2] is an English footballer who plays for Hull City as a goalkeeper.

Duke began his career playing for a pub football side in Bradway, Sheffield.^[3] He joined Hull City on 23 July 2004 from Burton Albion for a fee of £20,000, which could rise to £60,000 depending on appearances. He was a regular starter at Burton, having made 78 league appearances for them in his three seasons at the club, but at Hull he spent several seasons mainly being used as cover for first-choice goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, making few first-team appearances and spending time on loan at Stockport County and Wycombe Wanderers.

In 2007–08, Duke impressed sufficiently in a League Cup match against Crewe to retain his place in the Hull team for the subsequent league game and demote Myhill to the bench. He was also selected for the next two matches, but a thigh injury prevented him from finally getting a run in the team.

On 5 January 2008 Duke underwent an operation to remove a testicular tumour.^[4] He returned to the squad on 29 March to take his place on the bench for a 3–0 victory against Watford.

On 1 June 2008, Duke completed the "Keep Your Eye On The Ball" 5 km run in London's Victoria Park, in aid of the Everyman Campaign cancer charity.^[5] In September 2008, Duke, manager Phil Brown, chairman Paul Duffen and other Hull City colleagues participated in Everyman's "Tacheback" campaign, growing moustaches to raise sponsorship money for the charity.^[6]

In Hull City's debut Premier League season in 2008–09, Duke again started the season as Myhill's understudy. He impressed however when given his chance in League Cup and FA Cup matches, keeping two clean sheets against Newcastle,^[7] which resulted in him being called up to make his Premier League debut on 28 January 2009 against West Ham.^[8] Although Hull City lost the game 2–0, Duke saved a penalty and was City's man-of-the-match.^[9] He retained his place in the side for the next nine league games - his longest run in the Hull City first team to date.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Matt Duke profile on Hull City official website
• Matt Duke career stats at Soccerbase
• Matt Duke's Everyman Appeal