Matthew Nicholas Partridge (born 7 November 1993) is an English football defender who plays for

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Hungerford Town Hungerford Town Football Club is a semi-professional Football club (association football), football club based in Hungerford, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks Football Association, they are currently members of and play at B ...

Career

Partridge started his career in the

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 ...

Reading F.C. Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is manag ...

Progressing through the academy as under-18's captain, he went on to sign a professional one-year contract in July 2012. In October 2012, he joined the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Premier Division side

Bognor Regis Town Bognor Regis Town Football Club is an English football club based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Nicknamed 'The Rocks',the club is an FA Chartered Standard Community club affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. They currently compe ...

on a one-month loan deal. In November, his loan was extended for a further month. Having returned to Reading F.C. after the Boxing Day fixture, he remained a regular for the under-21s during the 2012–13 campaign. In May 2013, he was offered a new one-year contract by Reading. In September 2013, he joined

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...

on a one-month loan deal. He scored on his debut in a 3–2 away defeat to

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

, scoring the opening goal. His second goal for the club came in a 3–1 defeat to

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. In October, his loan at the club was extended for a further month. In November, he scored the second in a 2–0 victory over

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

in the league. At the end of the month, his loan expired, having made eight appearances and scoring three times. At the end of December, he re-joined Basingstoke on loan until the end of the season. His final goal for the club came in February 2014, in a 1–1 draw with

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

. He finished the season having made fifteen appearances, scoring four goals in all competitions. In July 2014, having been released by Reading F.C., he signed for

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

on a one-year deal. He made his professional debut in August 2014, starting in the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

tie against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. The match ended in a 6–6 draw, equaling the record for the most goals scored in a League Cup game, with Brentford eventually advancing on penalties. In August 2015, after starting his second season with the club as a regular and just two months after signing a new deal, Partridge was released by Dagenham by mutual consent. Four days later, he re-joined

side Basingstoke Town, only to sign for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club Newport County shortly after. He made his debut for Newport on 5 September 2015. He was released by Newport on 10 May 2016 at the end of his contract. In the summer of 2017, he returned to Basingstoke Town for a third spell, making a total of thirty-eight appearances and scoring six goals upon his return. In July 2017, he signed for

side

on a free transfer. On 22 May 2019, Partridge joined

Gosport Borough Gosport Borough Football Club is a professional football club based in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Charter Standard Community Club. They are currently members of the an ...

.New Signing - Matthew Partridge
gosportboroughfc.co.uk, 22 May 2019

Personal life

He was raised in

Thatcham Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London. Geography Thatcham straddles t ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and attended the

Kennet School Kennet School is an academy secondary school in Thatcham, Berkshire, England. In 2011, Kennet was the highest achieving state school in West Berkshire using contextual value added results and third-highest using five good GCSEs. The school opene ...

in the town. In April 2014, he was given a twelve-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after being found guilty of assaulting a motorcyclist in

Woolhampton Woolhampton is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. The village straddles the Bath road between the towns of Reading, to the east, and Newbury, to the west. Geography The village homes are clustered on the northern side of ...

in August 2013.

Career statistics

References

External links

Matt Partridge profile
at Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Partridge, Matt 1993 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Reading F.C. players Bognor Regis Town F.C. players Basingstoke Town F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Hungerford Town F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Gosport Borough F.C. players Thatcham Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players People from Thatcham Footballers from Berkshire