He started with Bolton Wanderers as a trainee, but moved to Rochdale in 1987[2] and made his Football League debut with them, going on to play 205 League games for the club.[3] He transferred to Bristol City in 1991 for £200,000 and went on to play 321 times for them before moving on in 1999.[2]
He spent the next three seasons at Northampton Town making 127 appearances before leaving in 2002. As of January 2010 he had the third-longest spell for consecutive minutes keeping a clean sheet at Northampton, having managed 467 minutes in 2000.[4]
He signed for Tranmere Rovers in Summer 2002, primarily to act as cover for John Achterberg, but he suffered a groin injury on his opening-day debut against Port Vale.[5] He made his second Tranmere appearance on 21 September 2002 against Crewe Alexandra, but he dislocated his shoulder in the game, and was substituted for Tranmere's goalkeeping coach Eric Nixon.[6] This was to be his final appearance for Tranmere although he went on to have further short spells that season with Torquay United and Mansfield Town.[2] He made his final Football League appearance on 29 March 2003, for Mansfield against Peterborough United,[7] and he was subsequently released by Mansfield that summer.[8]
^"Mathias keeping dilemma". Liverpool Daily Post. Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited. 23 September 2002. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
^Rollin (eds), Glenda & Jack (2003). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2003-04. Headline. ISBN0-7553-1228-7. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)