Striker Toby Bancroft was on target at the weekend as Sittingbourne held second-placed Ashford United to a 1-1 draw.

Bancroft is adjusting to life outside of the professional game after almost a decade with Gillingham.

The young forward admitted he had fallen out of love with football following his release by the Gills but has been enjoying it once again with the Brickies in Isthmian South East.

He said: “It has been very different and I have certainly not been used to it, but I have enjoyed it.

“When I left Gillingham I was out of love of football completely, I had a difficult ending to my time there.”

Bancroft had been handed a new contract by former Gills boss Steve Evans but the relationship soured. From being on the verge of the first team, the youngster ended up training with the under-18s before leaving.

It was a tough time and Bancroft admitted: “I got on really well with (assistant manager) Paul Raynor, I respected him, he was a good coach. Craig Stone was a brilliant youth manager and helped me massively mentally, but ultimately the one person who gave me my contract (Steve Evans), then took it away ever so quickly.

“I was there for the best part of 10 years. I am very fortunate, I have never been in a difficult financial situation, thanks to my parents, so finding work was never going to be a problem. But it was more that my dream of becoming a professional footballer was stripped away from me.

“I was maybe not mentally strong enough to keep on going because I was treated badly. I had had enough, I didn’t want to carry on playing.

“Each day before training with the youth team I was going out looking for work. I was working with my friend’s dad, who I am now working full-time with, I knew I had to try and make a life for myself.

“One of the only reasons I have played football is for the fans and for the enjoyment it brings, I have always tried to be inventive and creative and Sittingbourne fans are the best in the league by a long stretch, they are fantastic.”

It will be an intriguing game for Bancroft this weekend, as he comes up against another of his old clubs, Ramsgate. He enjoyed a spell with Matt Longhurst’s side after Gillingham but the travelling to and from his Faversham home was too much and so he joined the Brickies.

Both clubs have helped him enjoy the game again.

“They’ve been like a breath of fresh air,” he said, ahead of this Saturday’s game at Southwood.

“I really enjoyed it at Ramsgate, I just found it was too far for me to travel there after work and I am thrilled to see they are doing well. I am getting used to this level and once you get used to it then it becomes a bit easier.

“I am looking forward to this one, the lads at Ramsgate are a really good bunch. What they have done with the club is fantastic but I am hoping to score a few goals against them this Saturday!”

Bancroft works for a property development company and things are going well. He’s not putting any pressure on himself to make it back into the pro game.

He said: “Things can turn very quickly but I am not in a bad situation and I am enjoying what I am doing.

“I don’t mind admitting my faults. I was always able to get away with working less off the ball because I was better on the ball and at academy level you can get away with it. But when you come to adult football it doesn’t work like that and you are chasing three points. It doesn’t matter how many nutmegs you do, it is about winning the game.

“It has been a learning curve and I admit that my defending and working off the ball hasn’t been my best skill but it is something I am doing now myself and I am a better player because of it.

“You never know what can happen in football, or who is watching, one good game or one good goal could change everything.

“As a team we are just trying to do as well as we can, we have a young team, we are enjoying it, the vibes are good and I have no complaints.