EMPTIED onto the wooden benches inside the musky changing room, the contents of Team Bath shot-stopper Alex McCarthy’s shoulder bag would have differed to those of the squad around him. 

McCarthy, 18-years-old, pulled out gloves, training and match-wear, probably a pungent bottle of Hugo Boss aftershave just a few steps up from Lynx Africa, and some Reading FC mementos.

His teammates, though, would have had to rummage past their 20cm-thick applied science or mathematics textbooks, with McCarthy getting his some of his first tastes of senior football with Bath University’s former team.

Reading’s McCarthy joined Conference South side Team Bath on loan in October 2008, and also played in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round and first round with victory over Salisbury City and then defeat to Forest Green Rovers.

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“I think when I was playing in the Conference,” Saints’ number one recalled to the Daily Echo, “I was 18 at the time and it was very physical.

Daily Echo: Alex McCarthy has played 135 Premier League matches (Pic: Stuart Martin)Alex McCarthy has played 135 Premier League matches (Pic: Stuart Martin)

“You’re a bit like ‘wow’. I only played a few games for Team Bath though and then went to League Two Aldershot that same season for a few games, too.

Daily Echo: Team Bath students versus Mansfield in the 2002 FA Cup (Pic: PA)Team Bath students versus Mansfield in the 2002 FA Cup (Pic: PA)

“And then gradually as you go up the leagues it’s maybe not as physical but the quality just gets a lot better.”

McCarthy outed for the former University team in what was actually their final ever season. Team Bath disbanded at the end of the campaign after the Football League and Football Conference disqualified it from further promotion due to its financial structure.

Daily Echo: Bath University students supporting the team during an FA Cup tie in 2002 (Pic: PA)Bath University students supporting the team during an FA Cup tie in 2002 (Pic: PA)

It stopped a meteoric rise for the student team, following four promotions from the Western League to the Conference in just eight seasons, as well as becoming the first university team to reach the FA Cup first round proper (2002-03) since 1880.

But the Guildford-born stopper was already gone and moving up the leagues himself, completing a hugely satisfying run for the football purist – the Conference, League Two, League One, Championship and then finally the Premier League (2012-13) in a span of five seasons.

Daily Echo: Alex McCarthy during a loan spell at League One Yeovil Town (Pic: PA)Alex McCarthy during a loan spell at League One Yeovil Town (Pic: PA)

“I always knew that I would eventually get to play in the Premier League,” McCarthy insisted.

He now sits as a man who has played no fewer than 135 top-flight games in England, keeping 29 clean sheets.

He continued: “I wouldn’t have said I’ll have over 100 games in the Premier League, though, looking back to then (Team Bath) it seems a mile off, doesn’t it?

“I’ve enjoyed getting to where I am through all of them loans, they have put me in good stead.”

Reading’s academy graduate had to cut his teeth with spells at Woking, Cambridge, Team Bath, Aldershot, Yeovil, Brentford, Leeds United and Ipswich all before making his Premier League bow with his long-term employers.

Daily Echo: Alex McCarthy in action for Reading vs Manchester City (Pic: PA)Alex McCarthy in action for Reading vs Manchester City (Pic: PA)

Although he’d be relegated in 2012-13, QPR brought him back to the most lucrative league in the world in 2014-15 before Saints later took him on as back-up to Fraser Forster.

Of his top division appearances, 112 have come in a Saints shirt since and he’s enjoying a prolific run of shut-outs with five kept in 11 this season – only Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy and Manchester City’s Ederson have kept more (six).

Daily Echo: Alex McCarthy became an England international in 2018 (Pic: PA)Alex McCarthy became an England international in 2018 (Pic: PA)

There’s always talk of ‘will he hack the difference’ when a striker steps up a league – look at Che Adams and Adam Armstrong’s arrivals at Saints – but having played in every one of England’s top six flights, how does it change for the man protecting the net?

“It is just the quality,” he admits, “the speed that everything happens in the final third.”

“I think just the biggest thing is the quality and the sharpness of the strikers – that would have to be the biggest thing.”