"I feel like there's a lot left in me" - Town defender Cummings hungry to show he has unfinished business in full-time football

Now he's playing for them.

The 24-year-old defender was at the game in support of his friend Harvey Gilmour, who started in midfield for The Shaymen in what turned out to be his final appearance for the club.

But after Gilmour left to join Rochdale, Cummings arrived at Town, spending pre-season on trial before being offered a permanent deal.

"I had a good chat with Joe Sargison, one of the coaches here, at the (FA Trophy) final, I'd just finished my season and he was like 'what are you doing?'," Cummings recalled.

"I was telling him I was in part-time football and had a job, and he said 'do you feel like you've done enough?' and I was like 'no'.

"So I feel like there's a lot left in me.

"Coming here for a week or two in pre-season and seeing how I got on, I thought to myself 'I believe in myself and I can not just sign here, but I can play in the team and do well'.

"When my chance comes, hopefully I can show what I can do and keep it on a consistent level."

Cummings started his career at hometown club Sheffield United when he was 10, staying until he was 18 when he joined Charlton.

"It was a big change. I lived with a couple of lads at the start and then moved in with one of my team-mates, who plays for Gillingham now," Cummings said.

"The lads in-front of me got promoted that year, the team there wasn't a League One team.

"But I learned so much training every day with the pros there.

"It was exciting to know how it really was because when you play for under 18s or under 21s, it's a bit fake in a way.

"But in a first-team you're playing for your career and your bonuses and stuff."

After struggling to break into the first-team at Charlton, Cummings moved on to Scunthorpe United.

"It was tough for me personally, there was a lot going on off the pitch, a lot of chopping and changing," he said.

There then followed spells at Radcliffe, Spennymoor - "stop-start with injuries" - and then Boston United, where Cummings said he "started to enjoy football again".

The centre-back looks back on his time in non-league as crucial to his development.

"I was a lot skinnier when I was younger so I got beat up a bit - it taught me a lot about how to be a man, grow up and take a lot of body contact," he said.

"It's not always fast-paced, everyone thinks non-league is really erratic but there's some really good footballers and coaches in non-league.

"I feel like I've taken so much in from the last three years, I've probably learned more being in a first-team men's environment than when I was an 18, 19, 20-year-old kid trying to learn my trade."

Cummings learned a different type of trade while playing part-time football, supplementing his income by becoming a supply teacher in PE and maths in secondary school.

"It was really good, I enjoyed it," he said.

"Some of the kids were a bit challenging but it was really good."

However, the equation remained simple for Cummings: a return to full-time football.

"Boston is quite a big club for that level," he said. "I enjoy playing in-front of big crowds, and Boston would have four or five hundred fans sat away games, it was a bit of a buzz.

"Not many teams have that at that level.

"So I didn't think it until I watched the (FA Trophy) final (that he realised he wanted to return to football full-time).

"My mate Harvey was playing, and I thought to myself, and that's when the penny dropped, and I was like 'right, I'm going to give it a go and see what happens'.

"I was speaking to Angelo (Cappello), who's in my car school, and he was saying 'can you believe that you watched that final and now you're playing for us?'

"No, not one bit! It's a crazy world.

"Me and my mates went in fancy dress, we were in a bar and we stood out like a sore thumb (Cummings went as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, while his friends went in wrestlers' suits).

"I really enjoyed the day and the result was amazing."

The result of Cummings joining The Shaymen has gone pretty well so far too, says the defender.

"I've bedded in really well. It's quite a young side but everyone really gets along, and we push each other," he said.

"People will look at us and think we're just a young side but age is just a number.

"You've still got the likes of Jonno (Sam Johnson) and Summers (Luke Summerfield) who make sure none of the standards slip.

"We were saying if we do young v old games in training I'll be on the old side!

"And then Angelo was joking about my pension coming out and stuff, I was thinking 'I'm not that old!'.

"But I really love it here. There's nothing better than being in football, it's a rollercoaster and if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it, but I'm really excited for the season ahead.

"At the start, my legs were hanging off! Particularly training every day, compared to part-time, but it makes you think you don't want to do it again, going back to being a teacher.

"No disrespect to that, but that's not my thing. Playing football every day is probably the best job in the world, so that's what I want to be involved in."

Cummings describes himself as "a loudmouth that loves tackling".

"I'm aggressive in the air, I like to start attacks with simple passes or a pass out wide that gets everything going," he said.

"I'm an organiser who likes to lead by example, make sure everyone's alright and make sure nothing goes in the back of the net.

"Front-foot, aggressive but keep it simple, and a leader. I'll grow into that through the season. I'm a talker, you'll never stop hear me talking!

"I'm still a new guy but it feels like I've been here for years."