Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford says he values his non-league grounding.

While at previous club Sunderland, the 23-year-old spent time on loan at Darlington and Alfreton Town, then of the Blue Square Premier League, across the 2011/12 and 2012/13 campaigns.

It will be Non-League Day this weekend.

“It was just the chance to play men's football," Pickford told evertonfc.com. “I learned quite a lot getting battered by fully-grown blokes! You would come for crosses and catch an elbow in the face. But that's what you want.

“When you are that young, you want that experience. You see lads literally playing for their livelihoods or paying for their mortgages and stuff. It was great to go and learn your trade in that environment."