Matthew Hockley (born 5 June 1982) is an English former professional footballer, who plays for

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...

. He can play in defence or midfield. Hockley was born in

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority, borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the Engli ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

as a trainee. He turned professional in July 2000 and made his first-team debut in the 1-1 draw at home to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

1st Round on 18 November 2000. His league debut came the following week in a 2-1 home win against

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

. He made sporadic appearances over the next two seasons before becoming a regular under

Leroy Rosenior Leroy De Graft Rosenior (born 24 August 1964) is a football coach and pundit. He is a former footballer whose clubs included Fulham, Queens Park Rangers (for whom he appeared as a substitute in the 1986 League Cup Final), Bristol City and Wes ...

, missing only one game in the 2003-04 promotion season. He is nicknamed 'Pitbull' due to his tenacious tackling. In May 2005, he accepted a new contract with Torquay and in the 2006-07 season made his 200th first team appearance for the Gulls. His 200th league appearance came on 2 March 2007 in a 1-1 draw away to Chester City, Hockley replacing Lloyd Kerry as a late substitute. Torquay were relegated to the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

at the end of the 2006-07 season, but Hockley chose to remain with the club, agreeing a new contract with new Torquay manager

Paul Buckle Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager and former player. He has previously been the interim head coach of San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the manager of Torquay United, Bristol ...

. He was an unused substitute in Torquay's

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

Final defeat at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

in May 2008, and was released by Torquay three days later. Hockley joined

Truro City Truro City Football Club is an Association football in England, English football club based in Truro, Cornwall. They currently compete in the National League (English football), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in June 2008. After 1 season at Truro City he then moved onto

on a free transfer. His brother Wayne was also a professional with Torquay United.

All time playing career

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockley, Matthew 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Paignton English men's footballers Torquay United F.C. players Truro City F.C. players Dereham Town F.C. players Bideford A.F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Devon English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen