He began his career at Preston North End, making his English Football League debut in February 2005, having previously impressed in a brief loan spell at Conference club Tamworth.

Neal began his career at Preston North End, signing professional forms under Billy Davies at the start of the 2004–05 season.

[6] He kept a clean sheet on his debut at The Lamb Ground 16 days later, as Tamworth recorded a 1–0 win over Accrington Stanley; during the game he was credited with making a "brilliant" save.

He made his first and only appearance for the "Lilywhites" on 18 February, as Gavin Ward was forced to leave the field 83 minutes into a 1–1 draw with Ipswich Town in a Championship fixture at Deepdale.

Neal had to wait until September 2006 for another loan move, as he spent one month at Gary Peters' League Two club Shrewsbury Town, providing cover for Chris Mackenzie after an injury to Ryan Esson.

At the end of the season he was signed by Morecambe as an emergency loan after the club's regular custodian Steven Drench dislocated an elbow, leaving manager Sammy McIlroy to choose between Davies and Neal for the 2007 Conference National play-off final at Wembley.

[20] He failed to agree fresh terms with Shrewsbury, having only been offered a one-year deal,[21] and instead signed a two-year contract with Port Vale in July 2012, having impressed manager Micky Adams in a match between the two clubs some months earlier.

[22] He admitted that he had expected to stay at the New Meadow, but that he was happy to switch clubs in an attempt to win promotion out of League Two for a second-successive season with the "Valiants".

[23] He began the 2012–13 season in excellent form, and was named as man of the match after saving eleven shots in a 1–0 win over Bradford City at Valley Parade on 29 September.

[27] He made "a string of flying stops during a man-of-the-match display" in an FA Cup defeat to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on 1 December.

[30] After returning to fitness he displaced deputy goalkeeper Sam Johnson and retained his first-team spot until he damaged his ankle ligaments in a challenge with Tranmere Rovers defender Ian Goodison on 22 March; the resulting injury kept him out of action for the rest of the season.

[39] He joined league rivals Doncaster Rovers on a 28-day loan on 1 February as manager Darren Ferguson looked to provide competition for Thorsten Stuckmann and Marko Maroši.

[45] In December 2019, local newspaper The Sentinel ran a poll of fans to debate Port Vale's best goalkeeper of the 2010s; Neal finished in second place with 30% of the vote, behind Scott Brown (44%) and ahead of Jak Alnwick (26%).

[54] He made a total of 51 appearances throughout the campaign as Salford qualified for the play-off semi-finals with a third-place finish, and he saved two penalties in the shoot-out following a 1–1 draw with Eastleigh to secure a place in the final.

[70] His partner, Emma, gave birth to a baby boy, Zachary Christopher Neal, on 5 December 2021, at Arrowe Park Hospital; Zach was born prematurely and placed in intensive care and died on 15 April 2022.