Former Gillingham striker Toby Bancroft has settled into life as a non-league footballer at Sittingbourne

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