Craig Dootson

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Craig Dootson

Personal information
Full name	Craig Dootson
Date of birth	(1979-05-23) 23 May 1979 (age 32)
Place of birth	Preston, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Kendal Town
Number	1
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	Preston North End	0	(0)
1999–2000	Bamber Bridge	70	(0)
2000–2002	Leigh RMI	21	(0)
2002	→ Bradford Park Avenue (loan)	?	(0)
2002–2005	Stalybridge Celtic	89	(0)
2005–2006	Bury	4	(0)
2006	→ Hinckley United (loan)	3	(0)
2006–2009	Hyde United	110	(0)
2009–2010	Alfreton Town	11	(0)
2010	Fleetwood Town	14	(0)
2010–2011	Harrogate Town	7	(0)
2010	→ Fleetwood Town (loan)	0	(0)
2010-2011	Altrincham	12	(0)
2011-	Kendal Town	23	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 January 2012. † Appearances (Goals).

Craig Dootson (born 23 May 1979 in Preston) is an English footballer. He is currently playing for Kendal Town. He plays as a goalkeeper.

Career

Preston North End

Dootson started out as a trainee at his home town club Preston North End in 1998. Despite appearing in several youth games, Dootson was deemed surplus to requirements and released without ever making a senior appearance.

Bamber Bridge

Upon his release from Preston, Dootson had a brief trial with Morecambe but decided to sign for Bamber Bridge and made debut against Stalybridge Celtic on 31 October 1998. Made 70 appearances with 30 wins and 18 cleansheets. It was his performances that started to get him noticed again and in 2000 Dootson made a move to Leigh RMI for an undisclosed fee.

Leigh RMI

Quickly established as "The Railwaymen's" number one, Dootson made over 20 first team appearances before a serious knee injury forced him onto the sidelines. When Dootson returned to fitness he found himself unable to break into Leigh's first team again and, despite a quick loan to Bradford Park Avenue, Dootson was transferred to Stalybridge Celtic

Stalybridge Celtic

On 17 August 2002, Stalybridge announced that they had captured the signature of Dootson.^[1] Over a period of three years, Dootson kept 37 clean sheets in 125 appearances.

Bury

It was only a matter of time before a league club took an interest in Dootson and in the close season of 2005 Bury signed Dootson on a free trasnsfer. Dootson would make four appearances for "The Shakers" but would go on to break his arm against Barnet^[2] and then be unable to claim a regular first team place on his return. A one month loan to Conference North side Hinckley United in January 2006^[3] was followed by him being released by Bury at the end of the season.^[4]

Hyde United

As with other times in his career, Dootson did not have to wait long before being picked up by a club, Conference North side Hyde United moved to secure Dootson as their number 1. Over the three seasons that Dootson spent at Ewen Fields, he made 125 appearances before being transferred to Conference North rivals Alfreton Town at the beginning of the 2009-10 season.^[5]

Alfreton Town

Dootson would spend half a season at the Impact Arena but would find it difficult to hold down a regular place, in the end it looked like Conference North side Harrogate Town had won the race to sign Dootson^[6] but at the last minute Dootson decided to join promotion chasing Fleetwood Town instead.^[7]

Fleetwood Town

Dootson joined Fleetwood on 10 November 2009 and helped them to second place in the Conference North, just behind Southport. Fleetwood won a close play-off final against, ironically, Dootson's old club Alfreton Town 2-1 although Dootson did not take part in this final, not even making the substitutes bench.

With Fleetwood's promotion and subsequent decision to go full time,^[8] Dootson decided to remain part-time due to whatever is his profession, and left the club in the post season.

Harrogate Town

It was announced on 2 June 2010 that Harrogate Town had, at the second time of asking, signed Dootson.^[9] He made seven appearances for Harrogate before rejoining Fleetwood on a three month loan on 10 September 2010.^[10]

Altrincham

After his loan spell at Fleetwood, Dootson then went on to play for Altrincham then playing in the Conference National. Although he was unable to help them in their relegation battle as they were relegated at the end of the 2010/2011 season.

Kendal Town

As of 14 June 2011, Dootson announced via social networking site Facebook that he had signed for Kendal Town. He instantly found himself a regular first choice keeper.

References

External links

• Craig Dootson career stats at Soccerbase