Bury Town’s new signing Craig Nurse admits he never should have left the Blues in the first place.

Nurse sealed a switch back to the Ryman Premier side last week after leaving Mildenhall Town, and came off the bench to make his second bow for the club in their 3-0 defeat at Margate last Saturday.

“Looking back at everything that’s happened, I probably should never have left Bury,” declared Nurse, who will hope to help the Blues defeat Dulwich Hamlet at Ram Meadow tomorrow afternoon.

A Bury boy at heart, the 24-year-old grew up studying and playing football at West Suffolk College, going on to help the club win promotion into the Ryman Premier Division in the 2009/10 season.

A bit-part player for the Blues as a youngster, Nurse joined Ryman North outfit Needham Market in the summer of 2012, at 21 years of age, with the aim of playing more football.

It turned out be a nightmare move for him, as just three games into pre-season, he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, and was ruled out for the rest of the campaign.

Upon returning to fitness, Needham manager Mark Morsley couldn’t guarantee the midfielder games, and he stepped down to join Thurlow Nunn Premier Division side Mildenhall ahead of the 2013/14 season – linking up with current Bury assistant Christian Appleford.

“If I’m honest, Christian wouldn’t leave me alone,” Nurse continued.

“He was always texting and calling me, showing a great interest, and he was a massive factor in me joining Mildenhall.”

Nurse’s injury and fitness problems continued to mount up and he broke his leg in September 2013 against Thetford.

In and out of the side at Mildenhall under both Appleford’s, and current boss Dean Greygoose’s rule, Nurse is grateful to the opportunity given to him at Bury again by boss Ben Chenery.

“My decision to leave (Mildenhall) was 50% down to a new challenge, and 50% down to not playing enough,” he continued.

“I’ve been working immensely hard to get fitter lately and have strengthened in the areas I need to, but I just haven’t been playing.

“I feel 90% physically fit, but only 75% match fit, and both Christian and Dean have said that they regret not playing me more.

“I’ve spoken to Ben (Chenery, the Bury boss), and he understands what I need, and I’m looking forward to giving it another ago, and hopefully helping them stay up.

“My time at Mildenhall was mixed, it was full of ups and downs and I love the club to bits, but I think people expected a lot from me coming from Bury and Needham.

“They must remember that I joined after I ruptured my ACL and then broke my leg so it just didn’t really happen.”