Dale Bennett

Dale Owen Bennett (born 6 January 1990) is an English retired professional footballer, who played as a defender.

Dale Bennett
Bennett playing for Forest Green Rovers in 2013.
Personal information
Full name Dale Owen Bennett[1]
Date of birth (1990-01-06) 6 January 1990[1]
Place of birth Enfield, England
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
2004–2008 Watford
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2013 Watford 32 (0)
2008 → Wealdstone (loan) 10 (0)
2008–2009 → Kettering Town (loan) 17 (0)
2011 → Brentford (loan) 1 (1)
2012 → Brentford (loan) 4 (0)
2012 → AFC Wimbledon (loan) 5 (0)
2012 → Yeovil Town (loan) 1 (0)
2013–2018 Forest Green Rovers 180 (5)
2018–2019 Sutton United 49 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

If players go to training everyday and show attitude and application in reserve and first team games alike they are going to get picked. That's why Dale Bennett is in the first team.

Malky Mackay, September 2009[2]

Bennett began his career at English Football League Championship side Watford in the side's academy system. He captained the U-18 side, and signed professionally in March 2008. He made his first-team debut for Watford as a 71st-minute substitute in a 1–0 victory over West Ham United in the League Cup on 23 September 2008.[3]

In November 2008 Bennett joined Conference National side Kettering Town on a month-long loan, which was later extended to the rest of the season.[4] Bennett made his first Football League appearance for Watford in their 1–0 win against Barnsley in September 2009,[5] following an injury to captain Jay DeMerit.[6] Bennett's attitude in training and matches was praised by his manager Malky Mackay, and he retained his place in the team for the following game against Plymouth Argyle, where the team again won 1–0.[5][2]

Bennett's next run of regular first-team football came in April 2010, when he played in all six games, initially in place of DeMerit, and later Lloyd Doyley.[5] Mackay commented that Bennett was improving as he gained experience.[7] His contract was subsequently extended until the end of the 2010–11 season.[8] At the end of Watford's 2010–11 campaign, the club exercised its option and signed Bennett through the 2012–2013 season.[9] On 27 October 2011, Bennett joined Brentford on a month's loan. He scored his first career goal on his Brentford debut, the winner in a 2–1 win over Chesterfield on 29 October 2011.[10] This proved to be his only appearance for the Bees as injury ruled him out of all other games during his loan spell. Once recovered from his injury, Bennett re-joined Brentford on loan on 1 January 2012 for 28 days. He made four appearances before returning to Watford.[11] Bennett made his first start for Watford in the 2011–12 season away to West Ham United on 7 March 2012.[12] He had to be stretchered off in the second half due to a clash of heads with John Eustace leaving him concussed and not able to continue.

On 31 August 2012, he signed a one-month loan deal with AFC Wimbledon, this was extended for another month on 5 October.[13] AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley announced on 28 October that he would be releasing Bennett on account of injury. On 22 November 2012, Bennett joined League One side Yeovil Town on loan until January 2013.[14] He made his Yeovil Town debut as a substitute in their 3–1 defeat against Carlisle United but this was Bennett's only appearance for the club as he returned to Watford on 8 December due to a back injury.[15]

On 24 January 2013, Bennett joined Forest Green Rovers on a two-and-a-half-year deal, linking up with former teammate, Eddie Oshodi.[16] After overcoming an injury that he arrived with, he made his Forest Green debut on 9 February 2013 in a 1–1 draw at Kenilworth Road against Luton Town.[15] He scored his goal for Forest Green with a dramatic stoppage time equaliser in a 3–3 home draw against Lincoln City on 1 November 2014, Lincoln had led 3–0 with less than half an hour to go.[17] On 5 March 2015, he agreed a new one-year contract with Forest Green that would keep him at the club until the summer of 2016.[18] His second goal for the club came in a 3–1 away win over Barnet on 7 March 2015.[17] His next goal for Forest Green saw him find the net in a 3–1 home win over Macclesfield Town on 11 April 2015.[17]

He was a part of a Forest Green side who reached the Conference National play-offs for the first time at the end of the 2014–15 season, playing in both legs of a semi-final defeat against Bristol Rovers.[17] The following 2015–16 campaign saw him make his hundredth league appearance for Forest Green in a 1–1 away draw at Tranmere Rovers on 19 March 2016.[19] He ended the season playing in the 2015–16 National League play-off final at Wembley Stadium, but ended up on the losing side, suffering a 3–1 defeat against Grimsby Town.[20] The following season he played again in the 2016–17 National League play-off final, helping Forest Green earn promotion to the Football League for the first time in their history with a 3–1 win over Tranmere Rovers.[21]

In June 2018, he returned to the National League, signing a two-year contract with Sutton United.[22] At the end of his first season with the club he won a clean sweep of awards as Club Player of the Year, Players' Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Year.[23] On 17 October 2019 the club confirmed, that injuries had forces 29-year old Bennett to retire immediately.[24]

Personal life

Bennett is of Trinidadian, Grenadian and Jamaican descent through his grandparents, and declared interest in representing the Trinidad and Tobago national football team.[25]

Dale has recently turned vegan following his return from his honeymoon in June 2017.[26]

Bennett was also in the process of obtaining the required documentation to represent the Grenadian National Football Team.[27]

Career statistics
As of match played 22 April 2019
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Watford 2008–09[3] Championship 00—10—10
2009–10[5] 1000000—100
2010–11[10] 1001010—120
2011–12[11] 20—00—20
Total 2201020— 250
Kettering Town (loan) 2008–09[3] Conference Premier 17 0 2 0 — 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 20 0
Brentford (loan) 2011–12[11] League One 5100—0051
AFC Wimbledon (loan) 2012–13[15] League Two 5000—1[lower-alpha 2]060
Yeovil Town (loan) 2012–13[15] League One 10———10
Forest Green Rovers 2012–13[17] Conference Premier 80———80
2013–14[17] 32000—00320
2014–15[17] 23320—2[lower-alpha 3]0273
2015–16[17] National League 42030—3[lower-alpha 3]0480
2016–17[17] 42210—7[lower-alpha 4]0502
2017–18[28] League Two 33000101[lower-alpha 2]0350
Total 180560101302005
Sutton United 2018–19[17] National League 41 0 3 0 — 3[lower-alpha 5] 0 47 0
2019–20[17] 5 0 0 0 — 0 0 5 0
Total 46 0 3 0 — 3 0 52 0
Career totals 2766120301803096
  1. Appearance in FA Trophy
  2. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  3. Appearances in Conference Premier/National League play-offs
  4. 4 appearances in FA Trophy, 3 appearances in National League play-offs
  5. 2 appearances in FA Trophy, 1 appearance in Scottish Challenge Cup

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. "Post match reaction". Watford F.C. 15 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 September 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  3. "Games played by Dale Bennett in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  4. "Beardsley leaves Poppies – but Rawle and Bennett arrive". Northants Evening Telegraph. Johnston Press. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  5. "Games played by Dale Bennett in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  6. Anthony Matthews (12 September 2009). "Dale Bennett gets big opportunity as Jay DeMerit sidelined". Watford Observer. Newsquest. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  7. Smith, Frank (13 April 2010). "Watford boss believes Dale Bennett 'now looks like he deserves to be at this level'". Watford Observer. Newsquest. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  8. "Watford deals for Liam Henderson and Dale Bennett". BBC Sport. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  9. "Watford centre-back Dale Bennett handed new two-year contract". Watford Observer. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  10. "Games played by Dale Bennett in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  11. "Games played by Dale Bennett in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  12. "Dale Bennett Player Profile – ESPN FC". www.espnfc.com. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  13. "Dons extend loan stars' stay". Sky Sports.
  14. "Dale Bennett leaves Watford for Yeovil Town on loan". BBC Sport. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  15. "Games played by Dale Bennett in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  16. "Hockaday swoops for Watford star". Stroud News and Journal.
  17. Dale Bennett at Soccerway. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  18. "Forest Green Rovers defender signs new contract". BBC Sport. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  19. "Tranmere Rovers 1–1 Forest Green Rovers". BBC Sport. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  20. "Forest Green 1–3 Grimsby". BBC Sport. 15 May 2016.
  21. "Tranmere Rovers 1–3 Forest Green Rovers". BBC Sport. 14 May 2017.
  22. "Dale Bennett: Sutton United sign ex-Forest Green defender on two-year deal". BBC Sport. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  23. "Dale Bennett - Sutton United". Sutton United F.C. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  24. Injury forces Dale Bennett to call time on career, suttonunited.net, 17 October 2019
  25. (TTFF), Shaun Fuentes. "Watford's Bennett wants to play for T&T".
  26. "Dale Bennett on being vegan". www.ecotricity.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  27. "Cheney Joseph on LinkedIn: "Right-back Dale Bennett has agreed…". LinkedIn. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  28. "Games played by Dale Bennett in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
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