Aussie Holmes spent six years with the Cherries after being plucked from Sydney United 58 at the age of 16.

The goalkeeper rose through the ranks of Bournemouth’s academy teams to join the first-team set-up and he sat on the bench as the back-up keeper several times in the Premier League.

But at 22, and eager for regular senior football, Holmes departed the Vitality Stadium in August last year.

The former Young Socceroo signed a one-year deal with Ebbsfleet, in the rough and tumble fifth tier of English football.

Holmes admits adjusting to his new surroundings has been somewhat of a “culture-shock”, but a positive one.

“It was a bit of a culture shock going from the nice Premier League grounds, you go to United or Liverpool or Chelsea, and now you go to – no disrespect – but the other teams in our league you go to stadiums with only three stands,” Holmes told The World Game.



“And you can hear every single fan there and every bit of abuse. Just little things, you go to the changing rooms and you bring your own kit.



“At the training ground, people don’t wash your kit for you, small things like that. But I don’t mind that, I enjoy it. It just brings me back to when I wasn’t at Bournemouth before then.



“I’m lucky enough even when I was at Bournemouth, I experienced loans where I’ve had to things before, so it wasn’t that big of shock to me.”

Holmes said it was hard to leave Bournemouth, with a new contract offered to him, but the shot-stopper knew he had to move on in order to get first-team matches and continue his development.

“It was a tough thing for me. You have chats with people at the club – whether it’s the manager or the goalkeeping coach – and you have to have a look at yourself now and think what do I need in my game,” he said.



“I needed to play, as much as I could have stayed and been a training goalkeeper and done that sort of thing.

“I was settled at Bournemouth but I would have never had played – it would have been a very rare thing to play because you get to that age where, yes I am young in my eyes, but 22, 23 is not an age where they go yes I will take a risk on this person.

“I had a decision to make where I stayed or not, and I decided I was going to move on and look for the games and the club were fully supportive.

“They’ve helped me ever since, letting me contact them, ask for advice if I need anything, if I come in to do a training session, they’re still very close to me so I can’t complain.



“It’s so rare to get your opportunity straight from the youth team or the Under-23s to the first-team. You need to go and get your experience elsewhere and prove yourself.

“Unfortunately sometimes if you are doing really well, you’ll be kept around the first-team for training purposes and then it’s sort of kills you in that sense that you can’t play.

“But then you’re just so happy in the moment of being part of a Premier League team, travelling to games and all that, you just push all the other thoughts to the back of your head.



“But now at 22, just about to turn 23, it was the right time for me to just go out and play games and experience football.”

Holmes has made 19 appearances for Ebbsfleet this season who are located in Kent, 42 kilometres east of London.

He was also part of Graham Arnold’s Australian Under-23s squad that successfully qualified for the Olympics last month.

The Fleet, known until 2007 as Gravesend & Northfleet, have endured a difficult 2019-20 campaign and are currently in 22nd spot in the 24-team National League.

The club has only won seven of its 34 matches and sit on 33 points, five points from safety.

“It’s a good club,” Holmes said.



“There’s a few issues that every football club has on and off the pitch. There’s been a lot of change on and off the pitch – managers, players – we’ve done a few things.

“But the core group of lads - that have been involved the whole I’ve been there - are a good set and we all lean on each other and push each other through it to try and fix the problem we’re in.

"It’s been up and down season, [but] it’s been a great experience for me going and getting games every week, every three days potentially. I’ve already played 25 games this season already and I’ve benefitted massively from it.

“I’ve played well, I’ve had a few team of the weeks. All the fans are behind me and say I’ve done well for the club.

“Unfortunately the position we’re in is not ideal being towards the bottom, in a relegation fight. But it’s something I relish and I want to make sure we can get out of this and see where we can end up.”

Ebbsfleet have gone through two different managers this season, with Garry Hill sacked in October and his assistant Kevin Watson taking over.

The club is battling with Chorley, Flyde, Chesterfield and Dagenham & Redbridge FC to stay in the National League.

Holmes is confident the Fleet can survive.



“It’s an interesting one, relegation battles, I think it must something to do with me,” the 22-year-old said.



“I joined St Mirren last year on loan and they were in a relegation battle and we stayed up. You learn a lot from people around you, you get your true players who come out and perform or not.



“And that’s when you know you’ve got a solid team that really wants this relegation battle to come off and we get out of it, or we they hold their hands up.



“But I know from experience in the changing room we don’t want to lie down and we’re not going to do that, and we want to win.”

Off-contract at the end of this season, Holmes is unsure what lies for him in the future. But the AIS and NSW Institute of Sport product has not ruled out a return home.



“I’m open to a lot of things,” he said.



“At the end of the day I want to continue playing. Ideally I want to play at this level or even higher, so we’ll see what options get thrown about.



“I’m interested in a move back to the A-League, so I’m open to do that. If there was an opportunity to arise over that way, I’d be open to do that.”