Andy Carroll suffers nightmare first start on English football return with straight red

England international Andy Carroll has moved far down the divisions since his stint in the Premier League with Liverpool and Newcastle and now plays for sixth-tier side Dagenham and Redbridge

Former Newcastle and Liverpool star Andy Carroll suffered a nightmare first start since returning to English football as he was shown a straight card for Dagenham and Redbridge against Bedford in FA Cup qualifying.

The 36-year-old joined the National League South club in July on a free transfer following his exit from Bordeaux earlier in the summer, signing a three-year deal.

The England international had already made his debut for the club in a 5-2 thrashing by Worthing last week, having missed the start of the campaign due to a hamstring injury.

And he was hoping for a positive day out after being handed his first start by manager Lee Bradbury, who also named him captain.

But his first full appearance turned into a nightmare outing as he was given an immediate red card after jumping for the ball and catching an opponent with a stray elbow. Earlier he had a goal disallowed by officials to deny him a dream debut goal.

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The incident occurred just before the half time whistle as Carroll went straight down the tunnel. His team-mates still managed to get a result as they drew 1-1 to earn a replay.

However, Redbridge will be disappointed, seeing as they were leading 1-0 at the time of the dismissal and only conceded the equaliser in stoppage time as they failed to secure a place in the next round on this occasion.

Carroll was trolled by rival fans on social media after his career took another downturn, as one sarcastically wrote: “What a signing he’s turned out to be!!!”

Another poked fun at Carroll’s love of going on lucrative holidays with his on-and-off girlfriend Lou Teasdale, saying: “He can go on holiday with his girlfriend again now lol waste of a signing!” A third fan added: “You couldn’t make this stuff up.”

“I assume he wanted next weekend off for a holiday?” one fan joked, as another tweet read: “He didn’t fancy playing Doking Wanderers on Sunday.”

Another mentioned one of Carroll’s favourite holiday destinations as they wrote: “Guessing Ibiza is still hot”.

Carroll has had and up-and-down career in football since emerging at Newcastle before being signed for Liverpool for around £35million in 2011. The move didn’t work out as he netted just 11 times in 58 appearances before joining West Ham. He later moved down the divisions with West Brom and Reading in the Championship before moving to French second division side Amiens.

Carroll would spend just over a season there before joining Bordeaux after their relegation to the fourth tier. He was a hit in his brief spell with the club and scored 11 times from 23 games last season.

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