ESME Lancaster believes living the American dream has allowed her to flourish with Billericay Town Ladies.

Lancaster has been a regular in the Town side since joining in the summer.

And having enjoyed a five-year spell in the United States of America, Lancaster believes she returned to her home country a better player.

Lancaster said: “I was in the USA for five years and it was an amazing experience.

“It was totally different to what I had experienced in England because there was different playing styles and players from lots of different cultures.

“I won the National Championship twice and played in so many different states, such as Ohio for two years.

“I always wanted to go to the USA and they take women’s football very seriously.

“It had always been a dream of mine to move to the USA and so I was over the moon when I did move there when I was 18.

“I was able to live my own American dream for five years and I think I returned to England as a more rounded footballer.”

After coming back across the Atlantic Ocean, Lancaster joined West Ham United Women.

However, the club released several players after being handed a place in the Women’s Super League - the top tier of women’s football - this season.

And Lancaster, 24, is pleased to have made the switch to Billericay and is full of praise for the work being done by long-term manager Kim Coster.

“I came back from the USA last year and went to West Ham, but they released the whole team after winning promotion to the Women’s Super League,” added Lancaster.

“I saw the set-up at Billericay and the great work that Kim does as well.

“I knew it would be a great challenge for me to come to Billericay and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far.

“The girls and management team are fantastic and I definitely think we can push for promotion.

“We have a big game against Crawley Wasps Ladies in two weeks and that will be interesting and show where we are.”

Billericay maintained their place at the FA Women’s National League South East Division One summit as a Zoe Rushen hat-trick led the hosts to a 3-2 win over Enfield Town Ladies.