By Tony Leighton

Seven and a half years after losing his status as a Football League player Jamie Stuart is back and, at the ripe young age of 35, he is enjoying life as captain of npower League 2 newcomers AFC Wimbledon.

It did not look good for the former England Under-21 international when, a few months before his 28th birthday, he dropped into non-League after playing over 200 games variously for Charlton Athletic, Millwall, Bury and Southend United.

And it looked potentially worse when the central defender's first non-League club, Hornchurch, hit a financial crisis that eventually led to the end of their existence.

But his fortunes took a turn for the better when he joined Grays Athletic, and after impressing for Grays and then Rushden & Diamonds at Conference level he was signed by Wimbledon in January this year.

"I never gave up hope of getting back into The League," Stuart told football-league.co.uk, "but it was a long time coming.

"I never lost my hunger and I just kept plugging away, always working hard at my game and trying to improve. I'm a great believer in that old saying that you get out of life what you put in, and my reward is getting back into The Football League."

Stuart returned to The League via Wimbledon's Play-Off Final success against Luton Town after finishing last season as Blue Square Premier runners-up to Crawley Town.

And what a start he made to the new campaign, scoring the Dons' first goal of the League 2 season though the game ended in a 3-2 defeat by Bristol Rovers.

Since then the division's new boys - a number of them literally 'new boys' having never before played in The Football League - have adapted well and 16 games into the campaign are lying just two points below the Play-Off places.

Stuart is using all of his experience to help the players around him settle into their new environment and, he says, it's so far so good.

"It's been a real learning curve for the squad," he said. "A lot of these players have done their apprenticeships in the non-League, but they're coming through now and I think they can go far in the game if they keep working and learning.

"I said to the lads before the start of the season that finding our feet in The League would be hard and that it would take a while.

"We had a slow start and then picked up a few wins, but we've conceded too many goals at times. We're doing alright though, and long may that continue."

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