Lewis Carey would love to get back into professional football.

But for now the former Bristol City goalkeeper is just focusing on helping Eastbourne Borough set a platform to mount another play-off push next season.

Carey has been a big hit since joining Borough last summer after spells at Weston-super-Mare, Bromley and Tonbridge Angels.

The 21-year-old goes into today’s game at home to Bishop’s Stortford on the back of successive clean sheets and nine shutouts in total this season.

Back-to-back 1-0 wins over Gosport Borough and Staines Town have lifted Borough back up to 12th in Vanarama Conference south.

They were top of the table at the end of August and, while their play-off hopes for this season may have disappeared after a mixed run of form, Carey hopes they can make a more concerted challenge in 2015-16.

And if they can do that, then Carey believes his dream of returning to full-time football will take care of itself.

Eastbourne Borough manager Tommy Widdrington has a good record of helping players get back into professional football, with Frankie Raymond and Jack Deaman joining Dagenham and Redbridge and Cheltenham respectively last summer.

Carey said: “With the manager we have and the contacts he has, if you do put a good season or a couple of good seasons behind you I think you will reap the benefits.

“He has said he will never stand in the way of anyone. I’m staying for another year but you never know what can happen, especially with how the team are playing.

“It is definitely a target for me, I’m still hopeful of pushing on and getting back into the full-time game at some time.”

Carey looked set for a bright career at Bristol City after joining the Robins as a 15-year-old, being offered a two-year scholarship and then earning his first professional contract.

Although he never played for the first team, he was on the bench for a couple of Championship games for City before injury and a change of manager cut short his time at Ashton Gate.

He told The Argus: “In my first year (as a professional) I went on loan to Gloucester City in Conference north and played at least 30 games for them which, at 18 was a big step for me because the Conference north is a very physical, tough league.

“That season we had a change of manager. Derek McInnes, who is now at Aberdeen, came in and took a shine to me, as did the new goalkeeping coach Nigel Spink, and they offered me another one-year contract which I snapped up.

“My second year didn’t go as well as I wanted. I wanted to get out on loan but it didn’t happen. One of the keepers got injured so I was on the bench a couple of times in the Championship. My first game on the bench was Cardiff at home, which is a big game for Bristol City. We won 4-2 and it was a great experience.

“But just before Christmas I had quite a bad wrist injury and had to have an operation which put me out for three months. During that time the manager got sacked, Sean O’Driscoll came in and I was struggling to regain fitness. In the end they said they were not going to keep me on.”

Carey, whose father Shaun used to manager Crowborough in the County League, has no doubts he made the right decision to join Eastbourne Borough.

Having signed an initial one-year contact, he was offered an extended deal until the end of next season in September.

Carey said: “We had a great start to the season, we were keeping clean sheets and I had an opportunity to stay for another year which I snapped up with both hands.

“It was a no-brainer for me because I could see it was a good club and a good manager and I was really enjoying myself. The budget isn’t massive like a few of the other clubs in our league. I believe we are punching above our weight. But next season could be a strong year for the club especially if the 3G plans come off.”