Born in Warrington, Cheshire,[2] Carrington is a product of the renowned Crewe Alexandra youth system, joining their Academy at the age of 7.
[3] During his third year scholarship at the club, Carrington was loaned out to Leigh RMI in the 2005–06 season,[3] playing a holding midfield role and impressed enough to be awarded his first professional contract with Crewe in the summer of 2006.
[5][6] Carrington had a successful loan spell at Kidsgrove Athletic, scoring 9 goals in 20 appearances from midfield, before being recalled by his parent club on 15 November 2006.
[7] After returning from a loan spell at Kidsgrove Athletic, Carrington made his Crewe Alexandra debut on 28 April 2007, where he came on as a substitute in the 62nd minute, in a 3–0 loss against Port Vale.
[10] One of those goals being against his future club MK Dons in March 2009, and from that game Carrington earned praise from Steve Claridge in his Scouting Report for the Guardian.
[17] As the season progressed his game developed under the guidance of Ince, and although his starts were limited, he continued to impress when selected, and earned particular praise from the former England midfielder after scoring twice in the 3–1 win against Southend United on 20 February 2010.
But the departure of Alex Rae to Notts County at the end of Oct 2010 saw Hamann move more into coaching, and Carrington featured in more games, helping Dons to their first away win of the season at Brentford in mid–November.
[citation needed] With a handful of first team appearances, Carrington scored his first Milton Keynes Dons' goal of the season, in a 4–1 loss against Sheffield Wednesday on 20 November 2010.
On 1 February 2011, Carrington joined Scottish club strugglers Hamilton Academical for four months until the end of the season, after leaving the Milton Keynes Dons by mutual consent.
[25] The next day, Carrington made his debut for Hamilton before coming off for Aaron Wildig in the 57th minute in a 2–0 loss against St Johnstone on 2 February 2011.
[28][29] After signing for the club, Carrington suffered endured a frustrating period on the sidelines after developing a blood clot in his leg which delayed his debut.
[40] Carrington established himself in the first team, playing in the right–back position, throughout the season[41] After 10 good performances for Wrexham, he signed a contract with the Dragons for the remainder of the 2013–14 campaign.
In the 2015–16 season saw Carrington continued to recover from a groin injury[57] and made his first team return on 29 August 2015, coming on as a substitute in a late minute, in a 3–1 win over Halifax Town.