A promising left winger with pace and talent, Billy Blackford impressed at youth level in 2008 and 2009. His displays earned him a professional deal in the summer of 2010 despite him having missed much of the second half of the previous season through injury. Fitness problems continued to plague him during the 2010/11 campaign and he featured just twice for the reserves after November, with the second of those appearances being cut short by yet another injury. He was released in May 2011.