River Allen (footballer)

River Allen
Allen with Plymouth Argyle in October 2014
Personal information
Full name River Brian Zach Allen[1]
Date of birth (1995-10-07) 7 October 1995 (age 29)[1]
Place of birth Plymouth, England
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Tiverton Town
Youth career
2004–2007 Tamarside
2007–2014 Plymouth Argyle
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2015 Plymouth Argyle 3 (0)
2015 → Gosport Borough (loan) 4 (0)
2015 → Truro City (loan) 5 (0)
2015–2016 Gateshead 4 (0)
2016 Bodmin Town 16 (1)
2016–2018 Truro City 47 (2)
2018 → Tiverton Town (loan) 3 (0)
2018 Tiverton Town 8 (3)
2018–2019 Truro City 23 (1)
2019–2020 Tiverton Town 26 (12)
2020–2022 Plymouth Parkway
2022– Tiverton Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 09:23, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

River Brian Zach Allen (born 7 October 1995) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Tiverton Town.

Career

Allen first signed for the Plymouth Argyle Centre of Excellence at the age of 11, going on to represent Plymouth Argyle's under 18s as an apprentice. He signed his first professional contract for the club in 2014.

He made his first appearance for the club as a 107th-minute substitute for Lee Cox in a League Cup first-round game against Leyton Orient on 12 August 2014, in which he took and scored the first Argyle penalty in the penalty shootout after a 3–3 draw at Home Park.[3] Four days later, he made his first league appearance in the Devon Derby against Exeter City, as a 76th-minute substitute for Tyler Harvey in Argyle's 3–0 League Two home win.[4]

In March 2015, after completing a month-long loan at Gosport Borough in the Conference South,[5] Allen signed for Southern League club Truro City until the end of the 2014–15 season.[6] He made his Truro debut as a substitute in the 2–1 win at Chippenham Town on 21 March.[7]

Allen was released by Plymouth Argyle manager John Sheridan on 17 May 2015 along with a number of other first team players. Sheridan promptly resigned from his position only days later.

On 1 June 2015, it was announced that Allen had gone on trial at National League side Gateshead, and on 11 June he played in a pre-season friendly against Premier League side Newcastle United.[8] On 28 June, Allen signed a one-year contract with Gateshead.[9] He made his Gateshead debut on 26 September as a substitute in a 1–0 victory at Forest Green Rovers.[10] After starting the three of the following four matches, Allen did not feature for the first team again before his contract was cancelled by mutual consent on 14 January 2016.[11]

In February 2016, Allen returned to Cornwall and signed for South West Peninsula League Premier Division side Bodmin Town.[12] He made his debut on 20 February in a 2–0 Cornwall Senior Cup victory over Mousehole A.F.C.[13] and scored his first senior goal in the semi-final of the same competition on 1 March in a 5–2 win over Helston Athletic.[14]

In the summer of 2018, he signed permanently for Tiverton Town.

On 6 October 2018, he returned to Truro City.

In June 2019, he returned to Tiverton Town after being released by Truro City. In August 2020, he announced that he was leaving Tiverton due to work commitments, as he had started a new career as a trainee financial advisor and could not devote the necessary time to travelling.[15] He subsequently dropped down a couple of divisions to play for South West Peninsula League side Plymouth Parkway for the 2020–21 season before it was curtailed. At the end of the season the club were awarded upward movement into the Southern League.[16] In August 2022, Allen returned to Tiverton Town.[17]

Career statistics

As of match played on 25 November 2017
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Season Club League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Plymouth Argyle 2014–15[18] League Two 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0
Gosport Borough (loan) 2014–15[2] Conference South 4 0 0 0 — 0 0 4 0
Truro City (loan) 2014–15[19] SFL - Premier Division 5 0 0 0 — 0 0 5 0
Gateshead 2015–16[20] National League 4 0 0 0 — 0 0 4 0
Bodmin Town 2015–16[21] SWPL - Premier Division 16 1 0 0 — 8[a] 1 24 2
Truro City 2016–17[2] National League South 32 1 0 0 — 2[b] 0 34 1
2017–18[2] 13 1 2 0 — 0 0 15 1
Truro City total 45 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 49 2
Career total 77 3 2 0 1 0 10 1 90 4
  1. ^ Four appearances and a goal in the Cornwall Senior Cup; four appearances in the Walter C. Parson Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in the FA Trophy

References

  1. ^ a b "River Allen". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d River Allen at Soccerway. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Plymouth Argyle 3–3 Leyton Orient". BBC Sport. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Plymouth Argyle 3–0 Exeter City". BBC Sport. 16 August 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Allen's Gosport stats". Gosport Borough F.C. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Now Allen signs for Truro". Pitchero Non-league. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Truro up to third after impressive victory". Truro City F.C. 21 March 2015. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  8. ^ "REPORT: Gateshead 0-1 Newcastle United". Gateshead F.C. 11 July 2015. Archived from the original on 29 December 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  9. ^ "River Allen: Gateshead sign ex-Plymouth Argyle midfielder". BBC Sport. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  10. ^ "REPORT: Forest Green Rovers 0-1 Gateshead". Gateshead F.C. 26 September 2015. Archived from the original on 29 November 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Allen moves on". Gateshead F.C. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.[permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ "Football: Bodmin boss Gilbert fires angry broadside following postponement - February 17". Cornish Guardian. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.[permanent dead link‍]
  13. ^ "Match Report Cornwall Senior Cup - Round 3". Bodmin Town F.C. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  14. ^ "Match Report Cornwall Senior Cup - Semi Final". Bodmin Town F.C. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  15. ^ Whitney, Steve (15 August 2021). "Allen Blow for Tiverton". Southern Football League. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  16. ^ "10 - River Allen". Plymouth Parkway F.C. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  17. ^ "River Allen's Back at Tiverton". southern-football-league.co.uk. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Games played by River Allen in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  19. ^ "River Allen". Aylesbury United F.C. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  20. ^ "Games played by River Allen in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  21. ^ "River Allen". Bodmin Town F.C. Retrieved 2 December 2017.