Martin Paul Woods (born 1 January 1986) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

. Woods career started at Leeds United and during his time there had a spell on loan at

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. He then moved on to

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 ...

, Rotherham United and Doncaster Rovers, and also spent time on loan at

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil Town F.C. * Yeovil Town railway station Yeovil Town railway station w ...

. Following a short spell at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, Woods signed for Ross County in October 2014. He had two spells with County, interrupted by a year at Shrewsbury Town. Woods signed for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in October 2017, then joined

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in November 2018. After a brief hiatus, Woods played with Halifax Town for two seasons.

Football career

Leeds United

Woods started his career at the Leeds United academy, where he was capped by Scotland Youth. He made just one substitute appearance for the first team. In September 2004, he went on loan to

, making his professional debut in a 3–2 defeat away at Oldham Athletic on 11 September 2004. In October 2004, his loan was extended for a second month.

Sunderland

At the end of his Leeds contract, Woods turned down a new deal, in favour of joining

. He made seven appearances in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, but this included only one start. In May 2006, Woods was released by Sunderland.

Rotherham United

After leaving Sunderland, Woods signed for Rotherham United in League One. He scored his first senior goal, described as "spectacular" by

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, in a 3–2 defeat against Doncaster Rovers on 27 January 2007.

Doncaster Rovers

On 5 June 2007, Woods transferred to Doncaster Rovers, agreeing a four-year contract. He signed another long-term contract extension in September 2010. Following his release in the summer of 2013, he had a final brief spell at the club on non-contract terms, before opting to join

Barnsley

Woods signed for Barnsley on a short-term deal at the end of the January 2014 transfer window.

Ross County

Woods signed for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Ross County in October 2014, agreeing a contract until the end of January 2015. He made his debut on 25 October 2014, as a substitute in a 2–2 draw against St Mirren. On 7 January 2015, Woods extended his contract until the end of the season.

Shrewsbury Town

At the end of the Scottish Premiership season, Woods joined newly promoted League One side Shrewsbury Town in May 2015.

Ross County (second spell)

On 31 August 2015, having asked to be released from his contract with Shrewsbury, Woods returned to Ross County, signing a two-year contract with the option of a third. This option was not exercised, and he left Ross County in the summer of 2017.

Partick Thistle

Woods signed for

in October 2017, on a contract to the end of the 2017–18 season. Thistle were relegated via the playoffs at the end of the season. Following that relegation, Woods was one of many players released by Thistle.

Dundee

Woods signed a short-term contract with

in November 2018. He was released by the club at the end of the season.

Halifax Town

After a full season out, Woods signed with

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 s ...

side FC Halifax Town. After two seasons with the club, Woods would leave Halifax in June 2022.

Brackley Town

On 7 October 2022, Woods signed for

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

. He would leave the club at the end of the season after they reached the play-off final, and also assisting

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

Gareth Dean.

Boston United

On 19 May 2023, Woods joined

side

for the upcoming season. Woods was a regular starter for the ''Pilgrims'' in their successful campaign which ended with earning promotion to the

through a surprise run through the National League North play-offs. On 27 May 2024, Woods signed a contract extension to keep him with the club for the following season.

International career

Woods was capped by Scotland at schoolboy, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels.

Career statistics

Honours

Ross County *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2015–16 Boston United *

play-offs:

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Martin 1986 births Footballers from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Living people Men's association football midfielders Scottish men's footballers Leeds United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Dundee F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Brackley Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Professional Football League players Scotland men's youth international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Boston United F.C. players