PORTLAND United boss Brendon King revealed the “outstanding” Alex Halloran made a U-turn on his Blues future after a tumultuous start to the season.

King watched on as midfielder Halloran bagged both goals in a tidy 2-1 victory over rivals AFC Portchester on Saturday.

But the former Weymouth manager admitted Halloran nearly called quits on the club for family reasons before realising he missed turning out in United’s famous blue strip.

“I’m really happy for him,” King told Echosport. “At the start of the season he missed a little bit of pre-season.

“Alex is one of those where he’s got to be playing and training to keep his fitness up. He’s got a one-year-old baby and (with) working he was finding it a struggle to get to training.

“He actually chucked his toys out of the pram and knocked it on the head.

“Basically, I said to him ‘look, you’re not fit enough, you need to go and play some games for the reserves.’”

King added: “He didn’t want to do that but he then missed football and phoned up and said ‘can I come back?’

“So he played a few games in the reserves and he’s come back in (to the first team). He was outstanding (on Saturday).

“He’s been in and out but we’ve got a big squad this season and players have been missing, we’ve been changing it around.

“You look at (Portchester) and we’ve had three 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old start. That’s really good for us – it’s the future of the club.”

Portland visit Fleet Town on Saturday (3pm).