DORCHESTER Town midfielder Charlie Davis admitted captaining Gosport Borough last season was a voyage of self discovery.

Davis, who this summer agreed terms to embark on a second stint with the Magpies, spent time at three different Evo-Stik Southern Premier South teams last season.

Weymouth, Poole Town and Boro all utilised Davis’ services, but it was at Gosport – having staved off relegation – that Davis confessed he learned most about himself.

Davis also revealed that former Terras’ striker Matt Tubbs had helped convince him to join the Hampshire side.

In a revealing and candid interview, he told Echosport: “I played with Matt at Weymouth the previous season. He got in contact and I went to Gosport.

“It all happened quite quickly – I signed on Christmas Eve, played Boxing Day and then because of how the Christmas schedule was I played three times in about seven days and I hadn’t played 90 minutes in about three months.

“That was quite tough, then I think I missed two minutes of the season, which were the last two, because of an injury and obviously I was captain there.

“Last year was probably the year I’ve learned the most in football about different aspects and probably about myself as well.

“I never would have seen myself as a captain and it’s probably something that I’d quite like to do in the future.

“Gosport were where they were and it was something that I knew what I was getting in to.

“They’ve got good people around the club. They had difficulties last year and they are trying to rebuild.

“The experience of the whole thing, the relegation battle and then becoming a captain, staying up on the last day of the season, taught me a lot about football that I probably wouldn’t have got if I stayed at the upper end of the league.”

Davis admitted his move away from Weymouth had been a culture shock.

“It was something I’ve never done before,” he said. “It was a strange one. I started off at Weymouth and we’d just accumulated 95 points and got in the play-offs, thinking we’re going to have another good season.

“Then, to go from falling out of the team and looking like I was never going to get back fully in the team was a real strange one to deal with.

“I left and almost came back to Dorchester but it never came to fruition in the end.

“I ended up going to Poole. I explained to the manager (Tommy Killick) that I needed to play and from both sides it looked good.

“Then again, it turned out he had other ideas. I got to the stage at Christmas where I wasn’t really playing football, I’d taken a step back from it.”