Joe Partington

Joe Partington

Personal information
Full name	Joseph Michael Partington
Date of birth	(1990-04-01) 1 April 1990
Place of birth	Portsmouth, England
Height
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Eastleigh
Number	2
Youth career
2001–2006	Portsmouth
2006–2007	Bournemouth
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2015	Bournemouth	52	(2)
2010	→ Eastbourne Borough (loan)	4	(0)
2014	→ Aldershot Town (loan)	8	(1)
2015	→ Eastleigh (loan)	19	(2)
2015–	Eastleigh	43	(2)
International career‡
2006–2007	Wales U17	2	(0)
2007–2008	Wales U19	11	(2)
2009–2012	Wales U21	8	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:27 22 May 2016 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 March 2012

Joseph Michael "Joe" Partington (born 1 April 1990) is a professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for Eastleigh of the National League Premier.

At under-21 level, Partington represented Wales on eight occasions between 2009 and 2012.

Club career

Born in Portsmouth, Partington joined AFC Bournemouth in June 2006 after being released by Portsmouth. He made his first team debut for Bournemouth on 9 February 2008, against Luton Town. Bournemouth won the game 4–1. Partington came on as a late substitute for Marvin Bartley.

On 5 April, Partington scored his first professional goal. This was a crucial goal at the Liberty Stadium in the 90th minute against top of the league side Swansea City. Moments after, Bournemouth scored another goal from Jo Kuffour to win the game 2–1.

On 7 May, Bournemouth manager Kevin Bond announced he had offered Partington, along with youth team goalkeeper Ryan Pryce and winger Josh McQuoid a professional contract with the club. Partington made his full first team début against Bury on 20 December, scoring Bournemouth's second goal of the game in the 44th minute.

On 29 October 2010, Partington joined Eastbourne Borough of the Conference National on an initial one-month's loan in order to gain some first team experience.

The then Bournemouth manager Lee Bradbury offered Partington a new and improved two-and-a-half year contract on 4 February 2011 which he accepted. This will keep him at the club until the end of the 2012–13 season.

Partington's contract was extended by a further two years in June 2013 by current manager Eddie Howe who has stated that he is keen for Partington to covert to a centre half. To assist him in this on 1 January 2014 he signed for Conference Premier team Aldershot Town on a month's loan after turning down two League clubs who wanted to sign him as a central midfielder. He suffered an injury in a match against Dartford which required an operation to reconstruct his knee and kept him out for ten months.

Partington signed for Eastleigh in January 2015, after recovering from a knee injury, on an initial one-month loan, which was extended until the end of the 2014–15 season.

On 4 June 2015, Partington joined Eastleigh on a free transfer on a two-year deal after Bournemouth released him.

International career

Partington chose to play for Wales, qualifying through his Welsh mother. He made his debut for the Wales under-19 team in July 2007 against Chile. Aged only 17 years and 4 months he was made captain of the Welsh under-19 team for the game against Turkey in the Milk Cup and has captained his country at this level nine times since. His first Welsh goal came in a 3–1 defeat against Hungary.

On 2 February 2009, Partington was called up to the Wales under-21 squad for the first time by manager Brian Flynn for a friendly against Northern Ireland on 10 February. Because the match was cancelled, he made his under-21 debut on 31 March 2009 against Luxembourg at Llanelli's Parc y Scarlets. Partington captained the Welsh under-21s for the first time on 17 November 2010 in a 1–0 win against Austria.

External links

• Joe Partington career statistics at Soccerbase