The 33-year-old had been `Mr Consistent` since originally arriving at Northern Premier side Matlock Town from Northern Counties East outfit Shirebrook Town in March 2009, for whom he impressed against Matlock in a Derbyshire Senior Cup tie.

He began as a youth player with Chesterfield before joining Belper Town.

He was voted as the fans` player of the year in 2012/13, 2015/16 and 2017/18 and is the club captain having played more than 400 games for the Gladiators.

He announced his retirement at the beginning of the 2020/21 season due to wanting to spend more time with his family. But he was back during that campaign when he showed he had lost none of his fitness and excellence when Matlock had injury and unavailability issues in their back line.

At the start of the 2022/23 season, he helped out his friend Martin Foster who was assistant manager at Guiseley, playing a couple of games for the Lions, before re-joining Matlock in December 2022.