Carl Benjamin Pentney (born 29 October 1989) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He is currently the head of academy goalkeeping at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

Club career

Leicester City

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...

, Essex, Pentney started his career with the

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, where he was a regular for the under-18 side as well as the England under-17 team. He was part of the under-18 squad that won the FA Premier Academy League by beating

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

under-18s 4–3 in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in the 2006–07 season. Pentney signed his first professional contract on 5 May 2007, signing a one-year deal alongside Andy King,

Max Gradel Max-Alain Gradel (born 30 November 1987) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a winger or striker for Turkish club Sivasspor and the Ivory Coast national team. Gradel received his first call-up to the Ivory Coast national team i ...

and Eric Odhiambo. He joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

team

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

on 9 August following a trial, but he failed to make any appearances before returning to Leicester on 8 September. He moved to

Ilkeston Town Ilkeston Town Football Club is a football club based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England. They currently play in the . History On 30 June 2017, a company, Ilkeston Town F.C. Ltd was registered at Companies House. On 20 July 2017, it was conf ...

on a one-month loan on 29 January 2008, but was recalled on 8 February. He later had a loan at Fisher Athletic, where he made two appearances. He signed a new one-year contract with Leicester in June 2008. Pentney joined

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

on a one-month loan on 23 October and he finished this spell with two appearances. He made his

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

debut for Leicester after coming on as a 59th minute substitute for

David Martin David or Dave Martin may refer to: Entertainment *David Martin (artist) (1737–1797), Scottish painter and engraver *David Stone Martin (1913–1992), American artist *David Martin (poet) (1915–1997), Hungarian-Australian poet and novelist *Dav ...

against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

in a

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

match, where he made saves against Simon Cox and

Hal Robson-Kanu Thomas Henry Alex "Hal" Robson-Kanu (born 21 May 1989) is a Welsh inactive professional footballer who last played as a forward for West Bromwich Albion and the Wales national team. Although he initially played primarily on the wing, he was us ...

as Leicester drew 1–1. On 30 June 2009, Pentney signed a six-month contract extension with Leicester. On 1 December Pentney again signed a six-month contract extension with Leicester, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2009–10 season. On 13 February 2010, Pentney joined Leamington on a one-month loan deal which was later extended to the end of the season. He finished the 2009–10 season having made no appearances for Leicester and the club announced on 17 May that he would be released when his contract expired on 30 June.

Colchester United

Pentney joined League One side

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on a non-contract basis on 5 August to cover for injured goalkeeper Ben Williams, before eventually signing a one-year contract on 9 September. On 4 November Pentney joined

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

of the Conference Premier on a one-month loan as cover for the injured Ryan Robinson. He made his debut two days later in a 2–2 with

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

. The loan was extended for a second month in December. Pentney signed for Conference South club

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members o ...

on loan until the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season on 10 March 2011. On 12 September, Pentney returned to Chelmsford on a one-month loan deal. He signed for Conference Premier side

Hayes & Yeading United Hayes & Yeading United Football Club is an association football club based in Hayes, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. The club was formed in 2007 from a merger of Hayes Football Club (founded in 1909) and Yeading Football Club (f ...

on a one-month loan on 16 November. Pentney signed a one-year contract extension with Colchester on 12 June 2012. He joined

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...

on a month-long loan deal on 9 November 2012.

Bishop's Stortford

Pentney joined

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

on loan in January 2013. His contract with Colchester United was cancelled by mutual consent in the last week of the same month, and subsequently he joined Bishop's Stortford until the end of the season.

Chelmsford City

Pentney signed for

on 12 June 2013.

Maidenhead United

After a brief spell with Braintree Town, in which he made two appearances, Pentney joined

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously us ...

in 2015, and was ever-present over the next three seasons, including promotion to the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

in 2017. After 148 consecutive league games in which he played the full 90 minutes, his streak ended when he was sent off at

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 2 ...

in October 2018 and was suspended for the following game. Pentney left the Magpies at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Chelmsford City return

On 21 May 2019, Pentney rejoined Chelmsford City for a fourth spell. On 9 November 2019, following a 2–2 draw at home to Dorking Wanderers, Chelmsford announced Pentney's retirement after taking up a full-time role at

Coaching career

In November 2019, Pentney announced his retirement from playing football in order to take up a full-time position as head of academy goalkeeping at

. Pentney played for Brightlingsea Town in the

Essex and Suffolk Border Football League The Essex and Suffolk Border Football League is a football competition based in England. The league has a total of four divisions headed by the Premier Division which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club may a ...

in 2020–21. In the 2021–22 season, he was registered as a player at Brightlingsea Regent.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pentney, Carl 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Colchester English footballers Association football goalkeepers Leicester City F.C. players York City F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Fisher Athletic F.C. players Woking F.C. players Leamington F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Histon F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players Brightlingsea Regent F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players National League (English football) players England youth international footballers