| A look at Leon Cort's proud record without a booking |
Well it's gone, Leon Cort's proud record of not being booked for nearly 200 games and over 5 years is no more, and why? Was it a desperate lunge on a player giving him the run around? A mistimed tackle as a player made his way in on goal? The answer is no, such a fine record, which shows such great self discipline was ended by a rather stupid and unnecessary hand ball with no apparent danger about and no real need to do it. What a way to go, eh!
Well since his last booking Cort had played for Southend, Hull City, Crystal Palace and the Potters. He had been transferred for a million pounds or more on two occasions and for a total of £2,750,000.
He started his professional career at Millwall but was loaned to Forest Green and there was no sign of his future run during his time there, he picked up a booking on debut! He ended 2000/1 on loan at Stevenage, he picked up 3 bookings in just 8 games, including one on his debut there.
At the end of that season he joined Southend and amazingly was SENT OFF in an early season Carling Cup tie against Birmingham, you guessed it his debut in the competition. Two yellow cards followed in his next five games before he stayed out of the cards for the remaining 43 games he played that season. Three booking in a full season the year after took him to five yellows and a red in nearly 100 appearances for Southend. At this time all 6 times he had gone in the referee's book had seen Southend go on to lose the game. The last season he had at Roots Hall saw him keep his nose out of trouble until 5 games from the end of the season when he was booked during a 2-2 draw with Northampton. That would be the final time he saw yellow, or red for that matter, until last Wednesday.
He played a further four games for Southend before transferring to Hull where he played 91 games without a card. A move to Palace followed where he managed a further 50 appearances without having his name taken. The Potters then signed him for a then club record fee of £1.2m, rising to £1.5m on promotion. He continued his great run for his first 49 appearances but, on game number 50, at the Matchroom Stadium in front of two thousand odd people Cort had that run, in its 195th game, ended.
His career stats stand at 373 appearances that have seen just 11 bookings and one red card. He has also scored 37 goals in that time. A defender who scores nearly 4 goals per booking, not bad eh! |
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