Jonté Smith

Jonté Smith

Smith playing for Lewes in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Jonté Jahki Smith[1]
Date of birth	(1994-07-10) 10 July 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth	Hamilton, Bermuda
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
0000–2010	North Village Rams
2010–2011	Sutton United[2]
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011	Sutton United	0	(0)
2011–2014	Crawley Town	4	(0)
2012	→ Metropolitan Police (loan)	11	(12)
2013	→ Eastbourne Borough (loan)	7	(1)
2013	→ Havant & Waterlooville (loan)	4	(0)
2013	→ Metropolitan Police (loan)	3	(0)
2014	→ Gosport Borough (loan)	2	(0)
2014	→ PS Kemi Kings (loan)	12	(11)
2014–2015	PS Kemi	14	(11)
2015	Flekkerøy	10	(1)
2015	Gloucester City	9	(1)
2016	Lewes	14	(9)
2016	Welling United	3	(0)
2016	→ Cray Wanderers (loan)	4	(2)
2016	→ Lewes (loan)	2	(0)
2016–2019	Lewes	85	(35)
2019	Oxford United	1	(0)
2019–2020	Cheltenham Town	11	(1)
2021	Woking	12	(0)
2021–2022	Ballymena United	14	(2)
International career^‡
2010	Bermuda U17	4	(0)
2015–	Bermuda	15	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:32, 13 June 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:46, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

Jonté Jahki Smith (born 10 July 1994) is a Bermudian footballer who last played as a forward for NIFL Premiership club Ballymena United.

Career

Smith started his career with North Village Rams^[3] in Bermuda before moving to England in search of a career as a professional footballer.^[4] He earned his first professional contract in August with Sutton United. After a prolific season with the under-18s,^[5] he joined Crawley Town in August 2011 despite having not appeared in the Sutton first team. Smith scored his first senior goal in Crawley's pre-season game against Bromley, a 3–2 win in July 2012.

He enjoyed a prolific loan spell with Metropolitan Police in the first three months of the 2012–13 season, scoring 24 goals.^[6] It earned him promotion to the Crawley first-team squad and he made his debut as a substitute in a 3–0 defeat to Bournemouth on 29 December 2012 – one of four appearances on the bench during Crawley's 2012–13 campaign. He finished the season on loan at Conference South club Eastbourne Borough before signing a new one-year contract with Crawley at the end of the 2012–13 season.^[7]

On 13 March 2013, Smith joined Eastbourne Borough on an initial one–month loan.^[8] On 10 September 2013, Smith was again loaned out by his club, this time to Conference South side Havant & Waterlooville on a month's loan.^[6][9] In October 2013 he returned to Crawley, only to be loaned out for the second time to Metropolitan Police.^[10]

In January 2014, Smith was loaned to Conference South club Gosport Borough.^[11]

On 13 March 2014, Smith joined Finnish side PS Kemi Kings on loan until 30 June 2014 with a view to a permanent move.^[12] He made the move permanent at the end of the loan spell. In March 2015 he left Finland and followed his former head coach Tommy Taylor to Norwegian side Flekkerøy in the 2. divisjon.^[13]

On 18 September 2015, Smith joined National League North side Gloucester City.^[14] On 22 December, after 14 appearances and four goals in all competitions, Smith left the club.^[15]

On 23 January 2016 he marked his debut for Lewes with two goals in a 3–1 win at home to Canvey Island, only hours after the club announced they secured his signature on a non-contract basis.^[16]

He joined Welling United in May 2016^[17] and spent the first month of the 2016–17 season on loan at Cray Wanderers, making his debut at Guernsey.^[18] In October 2016 he was loaned out to Lewes, initially for a month. He returned on a permanent contract on 19 November 2016, as he helped The Rooks draw 2–2 at Molesey.^[19][20]

In January 2019 he moved to Oxford United.^[21] He made his first-team debut as an injury-time substitute in a 1–0 away victory over Blackpool in League One on 23 February 2019.^[22]

On 3 September 2019, Smith joined League Two side Cheltenham Town on a deal until January 2020.^[23] On 8 October 2019 he scored a hat-trick, his first goals for the club, in an EFL Trophy tie against West Ham United U21.^[24] His contract was later extended until the end of the season,^[25] but he was released by the club at the end of the season.^[26]

On 15 January 2021, Smith joined National League side, Woking.^[27] On 18 June 2021, it was announced that Smith would leave the club at this end of his contract, with the striker failing to score in his 15 appearances for The Cards.^[28]

On 17 September 2021, Smith made the move to Northern Ireland to join Ballymena United^[29] and went onto make his debut a day later during a 1–1 draw with Glenavon, playing the full 90 minutes.^[30] On 9 June 2022, it was announced Smith would leave the club upon the expiry of his contract.^[31]

Career statistics

As of match played 30 April 2022

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Sutton United	2011–12[32]	Conference South	0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0
Crawley Town	2011–12[32]	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2012–13[33]	League One	4	0	—		0	0	0	0	4	0
	2013–14[32]	League One	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Metropolitan Police (loan)	2012–13[32][6][34]	Isthmian League Premier Division	11	12	5	10	—		3[a]	2	19	24
Eastbourne Borough (loan)	2012–13[35]	Conference South	7	1	—		—		—		7	1
Havant & Waterlooville (loan)	2013–14[35]	Conference South	4	0	0	0	—		0	0	4	0
Metropolitan Police (loan)	2013–14[36]	Isthmian League Premier Division	3	0	—		—		3[b]	1	6	1
Gosport Borough (loan)	2013–14[32]	Conference South	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
PS Kemi (loan)	2014[32]	Kakkonen	12	11	0	0	—		—		12	11
PS Kemi	2014[32]	Kakkonen	14	11	—		—		2[c]	0	16	11
Flekkerøy	2015[32]	2. divisjon	10	1	1	0	—		—		11	1
Gloucester City	2015–16[35]	National League North	9	1	3	3	—		2[a]	0	14	4
Lewes	2015–16[37]	Isthmian League Premier Division	14	9	—		—		—		14	9
Welling United	2016–17[35]	National League South	3	0	—		—		—		3	0
Cray Wanderers (loan)	2016–17[38]	Isthmian League Division One South	4	2	1	0	—		—		5	2
Lewes (loan)	2016–17[39]	Isthmian League Division One South	2	0	—		—		1[a]	0	3	0
Lewes	2016–17[39]	Isthmian League Division One South	22	11	—		—		—		22	11
	2017–18[40]	Isthmian League South Division	37	16	1	0	—		3[a]	0	41	16
	2018–19[41]	Isthmian League Premier Division	26	8	4	3	—		4[a]	1	34	12
	Total		85	35	5	3	—		7	1	97	39
Oxford United	2018–19[42]	League One	1	0	—		—		—		1	0
Cheltenham Town	2019–20[43]	League Two	12	1	3	0	0	0	3[d]	3	18	4
Woking	2020–21[32]	National League	12	0	—		—		3[a]	0	15	0
Ballymena United	2021–22[32]	NIFL Premiership	14	2	0	0	1	2	—		15	4
Career total			223	85	18	16	1	2	24	7	266	110

1. Appearances in the FA Trophy
2. Two appearances in the FA Trophy, one appearance and one goal in the Alan Turvey Trophy
3. Appearances in the Kakkonen play-offs
4. One appearance and three goals in the EFL Trophy, two appearances in the League Two play-offs

International goals

Scores and results list Bermuda's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	22 March 2016	Estadio Pedro Marrero, Havana, Cuba	Cuba	1–2	1–2	2017 Caribbean Cup qualification
2.	9 September 2018	Ergilio Hato Stadium, Willemstad, Curaçao	Aruba	1–2	1–3	2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualification
Last updated 9 September 2018[44]

Personal life

Jonté is the son of Bermudan cricketer Clay Smith.^[45]

References

1. "The Football Association List of Players under Written Contract Registered Between 01/04/2013 and 31/04/2013" (PDF). The Football Association. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
2. "Match Report - Whyteleafe Youth F.C". www.clubwebsite.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
3. Thompson, Colin (24 April 2012). "Bermudian footballer signs pro terms in UK - The Royal Gazette:Bermuda Soccer". The Royal Gazette. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
4. Thompson, Colin (25 April 2012). "Jonte turns pro with Crawley". The Royal Gazette. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
5. "Success Stories: Signed Players". Premier Football UK. Retrieved 1 February 2019. His goal scoring record at youth level earned him a professional contract.
6. "Jonte Smith to go out on loan". Crawley Observer. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
7. "Jonté Smith - Lewes". www.footballdatabase.eu.
8. Peskett, Lee (13 March 2013). "Red Devil Smith Signs On At The Lane". Eastbourne Borough F.C. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
9. "Striker out on loan". Crawley Town F.C. 10 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
10. Wettone, Graham (19 October 2013). "James double strike sees Met through in Trophy". Metropolitan Police F.C. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
11. "Jonte Smith Joins Gosport Borough On Loan". Bernews. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
12. "Jonte heads to Europe". Crawley Town F.C. 13 March 2014.
13. "Slik har 2. divisjonsklubbene forsterket seg". Fædrelandsvennen (in Norwegian). 2015.
14. "Bermuda international signs for the Tigers". Gloucester City A.F.C. 18 September 2015. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
15. "Gloucester City sign Luke Hopper". Gloucester City A.F.C. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
16. Wright, Stephen (24 January 2016). "Smith off to flying start with Lewes". The Royal Gazette. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
17. "Bermudan International Jonte Smith signs". Welling United F.C. 20 May 2016. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016.
18. "Guernsey 0 Cray Wanderers 0". Cray Wanderers F.C. 18 August 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
19. "Former Man City cult hero praises Lewes and ex-Crawley Town striker". Sussex Express. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
20. "Football: Jonte Smith Scores In Lewes FC Draw". Bernews. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
21. "Jonte Smith: Oxford United sign Lewes FC striker until end of season". BBC Sport. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
22. Johnson, Jack (23 February 2019). "Blackpool 0, Oxford Utd 1 (Graham 40)". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
23. "Robins land signature of new striker". Cheltenham Town F.C. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
24. "Report & highlights: Robins 4-3 West Ham United under-21s". ctfc.com. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
25. "Jonte Smith To Stay With Cheltenham Town". Bernews. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
26. Palmer, Jon (24 June 2020). "Jonté Smith on his departure from Cheltenham Town". Gloucestershire Echo. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
27. "Jonté Smith signs for non-League Woking". The Royal Gazette. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
28. "Rob Hemingway on Twitter". Twitter. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
29. "Jonte Smith signs". Ballymena United F.C. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
30. "Ballymena United vs. Glenavon". Soccerway. 18 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
31. "Ballymena United FC on Twitter". Ballymena United F.C. 9 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
32. "J. Smith". Soccerway. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
33. "Games played by Jonte Smith in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
34. For FA Cup first qualifying round: "Smith Scores Five For Met Police". IslandStats.com. 9 September 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
    For FA Cup second qualifying round: "Smith Scores Twice in Metro Police Win". IslandStats.com. 23 September 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
    For FA Cup third qualifying round: "Photo gallery: Dereham Town draw 1-1 with Met Police in FA Cup". Eastern Daily Press. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
    For FA Cup third qualifying round replay: "FA Cup third qualifying round replay: Metropolitan Police 2, Dereham Town 0". Eastern Daily Press. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
    For FA Trophy first qualifying round: "Match Report: Redbridge 0 - 5 Metropolitan Police". Redbridge F.C. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
35. "Jonte Smith Profile". Aylesbury United F.C. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
36. "Metropolitan Police – Appearances – Jonte Smith – 2013-2014". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
37. "Lewes – Appearances – Jonte Smith – 2015-2016". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
38. "Cray Wanderers – Appearances – Jonte Smith – 2016-2017". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
39. "Lewes – Appearances – Jonte Smith – 2016-2017". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
40. "Lewes – Appearances – Jonte Smith – 2017-2018". Retrieved 18 February 2021.
41. "Lewes – Appearances – Jonte Smith – 2018-2019". Retrieved 18 February 2021.
42. "Games played by Jonte Smith in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
43. "Games played by Jonte Smith in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
44. "CFD profile". Caribbean Football Database. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
45. "Former Crawley Town and Oxford United striker Jonte Smith still hopeful of earning deal at Cheltenham Town". gloucestershirelive.co.uk. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

External links

• Jonté Smith – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Caribbean Football Database profile