Cody McDonald

Cody Darren John McDonald (born 30 May 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Gillingham.

Club career

Early career

McDonald was born in Witham, Essex. He started his career playing for Valley Swifts in the Braintree & North Essex Sunday League before being spotted by Witham Town. He made his debut at Witham aged 16 and stayed at the club for more than four years.

Dartford

McDonald continued to turn out for Valley Swifts even after his move from Witham to Maldon Town in July 2008, before signing for Isthmian League Premier Division side Dartford in October 2008. Dartford put a stop to his Sunday League exploits and in his short 4-month stay at Princes Park he made 17+3 appearances scoring 19 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Canvey Island on 30 December 2008. It was form such as this which attracted interest from higher league clubs such as Norwich and reportedly Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic and Reading.

On 26 January 2009, McDonald was accompanied by Dartford manager Tony Burman to Norwich City's training ground at Colney for a two-day trial at the club and the Darts' boss later commented that "he (McDonald) enjoyed the experience and in my opinion did not look out of place over the two days".