Many of us enjoy visiting our local non-league club at the weekend and during the week. We finish work, watch the match and head home ready for a new day. But what about the players who have to fit in their work commitments around the football? How do they do it?

The Echo will be speaking to non-league stars from across south Essex this season about how they juggle two of life’s most crucial aspects – work and football.

This week we speak to East Thurrock United striker Sam Higgins, 24 (despite the grey in his beard and receding hairline! – he says), who is the clubs record goalscorer with 123 goals.

Saturday

I usually get a bit of a lie-in on Saturdays so I will wake up at about 9am.

The mornings are quite laid back – I’ll watch Soccer AM and a bit of rubbish TV, and the Mrs cooks me scrambled egg and beans on toast, which I eat in bed with a cup of tea before I shower. I have been with her since school – she is a lucky girl!

Then it is time to get ready and make my way to the game. We are away today so it is a bit of a journey. My family always support me at home games and sometimes away from home but I had a full car this week.

I left for Hampton and Richmond Borough at 11.30am and unfortunately it was my turn to drive to the game, so Joe Keith, Lewis Smith & Mitch Gilbey jumped in with me. But by the time we get there we all have a headache from Joe Keith (ex-Colchester United) telling us all his stories about being a professional footballer!

I don’t have too many superstitions but, before every match, I always like to get a massage from our physio Steve on my hamstrings. I’ve had a few problems in the past, although saying that I’ve had quite a few injuries!

The game didn’t go so well for us. We lost 2-1 but we did play some good football, especially in the first half, so it was frustrating to come away with nothing.

Now we have to move on to Tuesday’s game and hopefully pick up three points at Witham.

We had a good night last Saturday as it was the team night-out which we like to do now and again. It was quite a heavy one so tonight will be a bit more relaxed. We will chill out this weekend and just go out for dinner to a nice restaurant with my fiancée.

Sunday

Sundays are a nice and relaxed day for me. I like to chill with my family and have a nice dinner with them. There is also Super Sunday of course and it was a great game. I am a West Ham fan so I was pleased with the weekend’s result (a 3-1 win over Liverpool) and Leicester against Man United was a cracking game. It is always great to see the underdog do well.

I also like to ice my knees and use the foam roller to loosen up the day after a match to prepare my body for the week ahead.

Monday

I get up at exactly 7:27am (to be precise!) as it is the latest possible time I can get up to make the train.

I am a claims technician in the City for insurance company Handling Claim and have been for two years now. It involves handling claims and paying claims for marine, yacht, aviation and energy lines of business.

I get the train into London Fenchurch Street at about 8am and it is the start of another busy week.

I usually arrive home at about 6.30pm.

In the evenings I like to use the foam roller again and do a bit of icing if I still feel sore.

Tuesday

It is another day at work and we have a match tonight. I am able to work the football around my job luckily. I only live 15 minutes from the ground so have sufficient time to get home, grab the car and get to the ground. Some away games I have to leave slightly earlier and travel by train straight from work - but this is ok as Covo’s (manager John Coventry) son-in-law is my boss so he has been told me I can leave early for games!

We were away at Witham Town and we lost 2-0. I missed a last minute penalty which was frustrating and it was another bad result and a bad performance from the team. We knew it was going to be a tough game and a rubbish pitch at Witham but that’s no excuse - we just didn’t perform well enough. We are struggling to get to the level we should be at as a team but hopefully we can rectify the mistakes and move on.

We have a big FA Cup match tomorrow (at Met Police) so we need to concentrate on getting a good result.

Wednesday

It is back in work for 8.30am after a very frustrating and late night. It is always a lot harder the day after a game when you have lost, so hopefully we can put it right on Saturday.