Darius Henderson

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Personal information
Darius Henderson
Full name	Darius Henderson
Date of birth	September 7, 1981 (age 25)
Place of birth	Doncaster, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 in)
Nickname	Hendo
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Watford
Number	10
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2000-2004 2003 2004-2005 2004 2005-	Reading →Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) Gillingham →Swindon Town (loan) Watford	83 (15) 10 (2) 39 (10) 06 (5) 47 (15)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:11, 4 December 2006 (UTC).

Darius Henderson (born 7 September 1981 in Doncaster) is a professional footballer, currently playing for Watford.

Henderson started his career at Reading, making his debut as a substitute on 18 March 2000 in a 3-0 loss to Burnley. After a further two substitiute appearances he made his first start, in a 2-1 victory over Wycombe Wanderers on 24 April 2000, although he was substituted at half-time. He made a further two appearances that season.

Despite his spell in the team towards the end of that season he was limited to a mere 6 appearances in the 2000-01 campaign. But he became a regular in the Reading side in the Division Two. His first League goals came in a 4-0 win over Luton Town, in which he scored twice. He made a further 24 appearances for Reading in the 2002-03 season, mostly in the latter part of the season, scoring 4 goals, but was loaned out to Brighton & Hove Albion for the start of the 2003-04 season for whom he scored two goals in ten games in a two month spell. He made what was to be his final appearance for Reading in November, before being sold to Gillingham for a nominal fee in January 2004. He had scored eleven goals in seventy one games for Reading.

Unfortunately for Henderson, he picked up an injury just a month after joining Gillingham, and didn't play for the reminder of the 2003-04 season. Early in the 2004-05 season he was loaned to League One side Swindon Town, for whom he scored an impressive five goals in six appearances. Returning to Priestfield, Gillingham were already struggling in the lower reaches of the Championship, a position from which they weren't going to escape. Henderson became a regular in the side's struggle for survival, scoring 11 goals.

With the 2005-06 season due to start, he was snapped up for £450,000 as part of Adrian Boothroyd's reshaped Watford side. Signed the day before the first game of the season, he made his debut and scored in the 2-1 loss to Preston North End which opened the season. Henderson has gone on to be an integral part of Watford's successful season in the Championship, scoring fourteen goals (nine of which were headers) in twenty seven games as they finished 3rd. He also scored a penalty in Watford's 3-0 defeat of Leeds United in the Championship play-off final. A passionate player, Henderson amassed six yellow cards and one red in the 2005-06 season.