Notts County Football Club

Baldwin wrote his name into Notts County folklore by scoring twice to send us to Wembley in a dramatic play-off semi-final at the end of his debut 2022-23 season.

The athletic central defender hadn't scored a single goal for us until Boreham Wood visited Meadow Lane to compete with us for a spot at Wembley but, with us 2-0 down early in the second half, he gave us hope with a long-range effort that was later voted our Goal of the Season.

As the game entered the dying embers of added time it looked as though that particular effort had been in vain. Incredibly, however, Baldwin popped up again in the eighth minute of added time to head home Jodi Jones' cross in front of a jubilant Kop.

Jones went on to fire us to Wembley, where we beat Chesterfield in another dramatic affair, which means Baldwin is back in the EFL.

He's well known to our head coach, Luke Williams, who handed Baldwin the Bristol City’s Under 23s captaincy and later influenced his move to MK Dons when he was working under Russell Martin at Stadium MK.

Baldwin progressed through Forest Green Rovers’ academy, earning his first professional contract before catching the eye of Bristol City.

An impressive loan spell at National League South side Weston-super-Mare earned him the opportunity to showcase himself in League Two with Cheltenham Town, only for his stay to be curtailed by a knee injury.

Despite being sidelined for four months, City offered Baldwin a new deal and, following a number of appearances as their Under 23s captain, he was loaned out to Eastleigh in the National League.

He departed Ashton Gate at the end of the 2020-21 campaign and signed for MK Dons, with then-manager Martin, who weeks later took Williams with him to Swansea, citing Williams’ high regard for the defender as one of the reasons for the move.

Last updated: August 2023

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