Ryan Esson joins Bulls

Hereford United have announced that goalkeeper Ryan Esson has joined the Bulls as cover for Mike Ingham who is out for around six weeks with a finger injury.

28 year old Esson, who is 6 foot tall, was born in Scotland and spent ten years with Aberdeen. He then moved to Shrewsbury for 20 months before being released by them last month.

The club says that, should the need arise, he can take part in play-off matches.

Below is a detailed look at Esson's time at Shrewsbury taken from Wikipedia.

He joined Shrewsbury Town on June 30, 2006 on a free transfer and made his début in the 2006-07 opener against Mansfield Town, which finished 2-2. After playing in Shrewsbury's first six league matches he was dropped in favour of Chris Mackenzie.

Whilst playing in a reserve fixture on September 18, 2006, Esson sustained a broken cheekbone, and it was later revealed that he would be sidelined for up to ten weeks.

Scott Shearer was signed on loan from Bristol Rovers to cover Esson's injury spell. Upon his recovery, Esson could not dislodge Shearer from the team, and Shearer played out the rest of the season as first-choice goalkeeper. In the League Two play-off final, Shearer was prohibited from playing against his parent club Bristol Rovers. Chris Mackenzie, who had played many more league games that season, was chosen ahead of Esson for the match.

At the end of the 2006-07 season Shearer left Shrewsbury, and the club signed Welsh international Glyn Garner to be their first choice goalkeeper for the 2007-08 season. With a season left on his contract, Esson was told that he may leave should he have the desire and opportunity. However, with no firm offers from other clubs on the table, Esson opted to see out his contract at Shrewsbury Town, and try and win back the first choice goalkeeper's berth.

In 2007-08, Esson was used as Shrewsbury's goalkeeper for the first and second rounds of the League Cup, where his highlight was an extra-time penalty save as Shrewsbury won 1-0 against Colchester United. With Glyn Garner firmly established as the club's number one goalkeeper, rumours linked Esson with a move back to Scotland. On January 30, 2008, Esson was released by Shrewsbury, after having the final six months of his contract paid off.

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