AJ Leitch-Smith

Club

Hanley Town

Position

Centre-Forward

Nationality

England

Date of birth

1990-03-06

Birthplace

Crewe, England

Height

173 cm

Weight

75 kg

Jay Leitch-Smith (born 6 March 1990), known as A-Jay Leitch-Smith, is an English professional footballer who most recently played as a forward for National League side Altrincham.

A graduate of the Academy at Crewe Alexandra, he played on loan for Halifax Town, Newcastle Town, ÍBV (Iceland), and Curzon Ashton. He spent six years with Crewe, winning the League Two play-offs in 2012 and the League Trophy in 2013. He signed with Yeovil Town in June 2014, but moved on to Port Vale in July 2015 after a poor season with Yeovil. He finished as Port Vale's top-scorer, before moving on to Shrewsbury Town in June 2016. He joined Scottish Premiership club Dundee on loan in August 2017.

Playing career
Crewe Alexandra
Whilst on the books at Crewe Alexandra as a youth player, Leitch-Smith was loaned out to non-League clubs Halifax Town in November 2008 and Newcastle Town in March 2009. He signed his first professional contract in April 2009, before joining Icelandic club ÍBV on loan. He was recalled from his loan, along with Chris Clements, in early September due to injury problems at Crewe.

He made his League Two debut for Crewe at Gresty Road in a 3–2 defeat to Bury on 29 September 2009, replacing Joel Grant as a substitute in the 80th minute. This was his only appearance of the 2009–10 season. He joined Curzon Ashton on loan in March 2010. He scored seven goals in ten Northern Premier League appearances, which was enough to win him a new contract at Crewe.

He scored his first goal in the English Football League on 21 August 2010, adding the final goal of the "Railwaymen's" 7–0 win over Barnet. However, he was limited to only 18 appearances in the 2010–11 season as he struggled to step up to first team football, and manager Dario Gradi devised a special pre-season fitness programme in the summer to help him to adapt to senior football.

Leitch-Smith scored nine goals in 44 games in the 2011–12 campaign. He signed a new one-year contract in April 2012, and manager Steve Davis stated "I'd like to think that he can become the 15 to 20 goal a season man we need." On 27 May, he played the first 85 minutes of the League Two play-off Final victory over Cheltenham Town at Wembley Stadium, providing the assist for Byron Moore's goal which secured the 2–0 victory and Crewe's promotion into League One.

He scored six goals in 35 matches in the 2012–13 season. On 7 April he made another appearance at Wembley, as the Alex beat Southend United 2–0 in the Football