Andy Carroll endured a debut to forget for Dagenham and Redbridge as the non-league club suffered a defeat to League Two outfit Crawley Town in a preseason friendly.
Carroll, 36, came off the bench an hour into the game with his new team down 2-1, only for a player listed as ‘Trialist B’ to run riot with a double in the closing stages as Crawley ended up with a 5-1 victory.
The former Liverpool and Newcastle striker was greeted warmly by the Dagenham fans but he could not stop Crawley from showing their superiority.
Carroll, who at one point commanded a record transfer fee for a British player when he joined Liverpool from Newcastle for £35 million back in 2011, moved to the East London club earlier this summer.
He has also become an investor in the non-league outfit.
‘I’m really excited to get started with Dagenham,’ said Carroll when he signed.
Carroll was formerly the record British transfer signing when he signed on Merseyside in 2011
Andy Carroll has gone from English record signing to Ligue 2 and then England’s sixth tier
‘My kids thought I was signing for Chelsea – they’ll be in for a shock.
‘It’s a fantastic location and close to my kids, they will be able to come and see me play.’
A return to English football comes after Carroll spent two years in the French Ligue 2, first with Amiens and then Bordeaux.
He started his career at Newcastle, making 143 appearances for the club in separate stints either side of his record move to Liverpool.
Carroll also played for West Ham for seven years – again in separate spells – as well as Preston, West Brom and Reading.
He has nine England caps and a pair of international goals to his name.
Dagenham’s competitive season gets underway on August 9th when they host Ebbsfleet United in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.
