Pedro Matías


Pedro Manuel Miguel Matías is a Spanish retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
He spent the vast majority of his professional career in England, representing six teams, mainly Walsall for which he appeared in 162 competitive matches and scored 27 goals.

Club career

Born in Madrid, Matías was an unsuccessful Real Madrid youth graduate, only playing for its reserves for three seasons, two of those in Segunda División. In 1996–97 he was released and stayed in that level, appearing regularly and being relegated with UD Almería.
After a couple of months with CD Logroñés, also in the second tier, Matías left his homeland, going on to spend the following decade in the English Football League with six teams: Macclesfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, Walsall – by far his biggest spell with any club in the country, five seasons – Blackpool, Bristol Rovers and Kidderminster Harriers. On 24 March 2001, whilst playing for the Saddlers, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 home win over Wycombe Wanderers, being crucial to the club's promotion; the following campaign he also figured prominently as Walsall finished 18th and out of the relegation zone, notably scoring twice in a 3–2 home defeat of Rotherham United.
In 2005, at nearly 32, citing personal reasons, Matías returned to Spain and signed with lowly Gimnástica Segoviana CF of Tercera División, helping the Castile and León side win their group albeit without a final playoff promotion. Subsequently, he saw out the remainder of his career in amateur football.

Honours

Walsall