Mark Carrington (footballer)

Mark Richard Carrington (born 4 May 1987 in Warrington, Cheshire) is an English professional footballer for Wrexham, playing as a central midfielder or right back defender.

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Mark Carrington is a product of the renowned Crewe Alexandra youth system, joining their Academy at the age of 7. He represented Crewe at every age group level and played a key part in the under 18 team that reached the semi finals of the F.A. Youth Cup in 2004. He was loaned out to Leigh RMI in the 2005–06 season playing a holding midfield role and impressed enough to be awarded his first professional contract with Crewe in the summer of 2006. Following a successful loan spell at Kidsgrove Athletic, scoring 9 goals in 20 appearances from midfield, he broke into Crewe's first team towards the end of his first season as a professional. Carrington made a handful of appearances the following season and saw a more regular place in the team with the arrival of new manager Gudjon Thordarson in the 2008–09 season, and managed to score his first two goals for the club as a professional. One of those goals being against his future club MK Dons in March 2009, and from that game Carrington earned praise from Steve Claridge in his Scouting Report for the Guardian.^[1] Having missed the last few games of the season with an injury Carrington left the club when his contract expired in June 2009.

Milton Keynes Dons

On 21 July 2009, Paul Ince signed Mark Carrington on a two-year contract for Milton Keynes Dons. After scoring in the pre-season friendly against Rushdon & Diamonds, Carrington scored his first league goal for MK Dons against Colchester Utd in August 2009. As the season progressed his game developed under the guidance of Ince, and although his starts were limited, he continued to impress when selected, and earned particular praise from the former England midfielder after scoring twice in the 3–1 win against Southend in February 2010.^[2] With the replacement of Ince by Karl Robinson in the summer of 2010,and the arrival at MK of former England Assistant Manager John Gorman, Carrington continued to improve under John's guidance. Chances were limited however at the beginning of the season due to the signing of Dietmar Hamann . But the departure of Alex Rae to Notts County at the end of Oct 2010 saw Hamann move more into coaching, and Carrington featured in more games, helping Dons to their first away win of the season at Brentford in mid November. Hamann quoted at the time 'one of the reason's for me taking a step back from playing was Mark Carrington's form, it was harsh leaving him out, so my move to coaching has given him a chance to play on a more regular basis and he has been excellent'. However with the return of Gleeson from injury, Carrington again found his chances limited and decided to leave MK Dons in the January transfer window, but not before scoring for them after coming on in the 81st minute against Dagenham & Redbridge to earn MK a 1–0 win and three vital points towards their push for promotion. In a bid to play more regularly Carrington opted for a chance to play in the Scottish Premier League until the end of the season, where he put in some good performances against Celtic and Rangers.

Hamilton Academical

On 1 February 2011, Carrington joined Scottish club strugglers Hamilton Academical for four months until the end of the season, after leaving the Dons by mutual consent.^{[3] [4]} The next day, Carrington made his debut for Hamilton before coming off for Aaron Wildig on a 57th minutes in a 2–0 loss against St. Johnstone on 2 February 2011.^[5] Carrington made 11 more appearance for the club and was subsequently released by Hamilton following their relegation from the SPL.

Bury FC

On 29 September 2011, Bury FC signed Carrington on a short-term non-contract agreement after Carrington had impressed whilst on trial and has been on trial with Bury for the last three weeks,.^[6] After signing for the club, Carrington suffered endured a frustrating period on the sidelines after developing a blood clot in his leg which delayed his debut. Carrington had to wait until 17 December 2011 for his debut for the Shakers against Brentford in a 1–1 draw^[7] After his debut match, Manager Richard Barker praised Carrington performance as he believe there is much more to come from Carrington and told the clubs official website"I though his stuff off the ball and movement was really good, I'm sure we will see better from him. His deal runs out at the end of January, but after what he has been through we are pretty much sure that he will be with us until the end of the season now." On the flip side he is a million times better on the ball than he was on Saturday, but he's only 24 and he's made his debut in a hare 'em scare 'em type of game. His good performance at Bury after making 3 more appearance for Bury soon earned a deal until the end of the 2011–12 season.^[8] On 21 April 2012, Carrington scored his first goal for the club in a 4–2 win over Notts County.^[9] After making 21 appearance and scoring 1 goal in his first season, Carrington signed a new one-year contract with Bury which will keep until 2013.^[10]

Wrexham FC

On 11 September 2013 Carrington signed on non-contract terms with Wrexham. He made his debut for Wrexham in a league match away to Aldershot Town, coming on as a substitute on 86 minutes for Johnny Hunt, the reds lost 2-0. His first start came the following Tuesday at the Racecourse, in a 2-3 loss to Braintree Town. After 10 good performances for Wrexham, he signed a contract with the Dragons for the rest of the 2013/2014 season. He scored his first Wrexham goal in a 2-3 loss to Alfreton Town on Boxing Day 2013.

References

External links

• Mark Carrington player profile at mkdons.com
• Mark Carrington player profile at crewealex.net
• Mark Carrington career stats at Soccerbase