Phil Walsh says he followed his heart when he made a "sentimental" return to Bath City this week.
Having been a striker at Twerton Park from 2005-08, the 30-year-old is back on loan from Margate as a defender and helped City record a battling 2-2 draw at Skrill South leaders Bromley yesterday.
And Walsh explained afterwards how he had initiated the move, saying: "My departure from Margate was a bit out of the blue.
"A new manager came in and quite a few players were leaving but I was playing all the time. Then all of a sudden the manager decided he wanted to go down another route but that's football.
"The first thing that popped into my mind was playing for Bath City. I'm 30 now and I want to play for a team that's in my heart, so I gave Adie a call.
"Me and Adie have kept in touch for the past couple of years, ever since we played City in the FA Cup match when I was at Dagenham & Redbridge.
"I'm really sentimental about playing for Bath City, for the fans, for Adie - this was the right thing to do."
Walsh, a PE teacher in East London, will not see his City team-mates very often but is already used to playing alongside the likes of Sekani Simpson and struck up an instant understanding with left wing-back Dan Ball yesterday.
"He's a good lad, Bally, a good communicator," said Walsh, who also played in the Football League for Barnet and Cheltenham Town after leaving City.
"That helps, he was giving me a lot of information and that's what you've got to do, you have to strike up rapports around the pitch. Little partnerships, that's what the good teams do.
"Travel won't be a problem. I've got family in Bristol so I can come back on a Friday night, have dinner with my mum and dad, wake up in the morning and travel to Bath - it will be like old times.
"Then I can go back to working in East London in the week. A lot of the away games are around the London area, so I think it will work out well. Even Havant on Monday week is not that far away."
Walsh almost made an instant impact on his return to City, having a thumping header hit an unwitting Bromley defender on the line inside the opening four minutes.
"When the ball came in, I thought 'this could be the chance' and I felt I made a good connection but I couldn't see the direction it was going in," he recalled.
"It obviously hit one of their defenders on the line and their players told me it was going in - unlucky but maybe next time.
"Players change positions and I can still do a job up front if needed. I just love football - I love the defending part of it, I love the attacking part of it.
"I love scoring goals, I'll still go up for set-pieces, but it's also important to defend. If you clear one off the line, like Sekani did, it's a great feeling."
Walsh said his focus was on helping City into the play-offs and he would decide whether his return would be a long-term one at the end of the season.
"I'm just taking it game by game at the moment, I am very lucky just to be given another opportunity at Bath," he added.
"I'm not really thinking about next season, I don't really know what I want to do with myself. Do I want to play abroad? Do I want to keep playing for Adie?
"I'll keep my options open but, most importantly, I've got to make options for myself by playing well for Bath City."
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