Croydon Athletic's Chris Bourne doesn't for one minute think he is as good as David Beckham, but could be forgiven for thinking otherwise when he plays for Guyana.

The left back has six caps to his name, including two World Cup qualifiers, at international level for the Caribbean country, where football is second only to cricket and Bourne needs a security guard just to go to the corner shop.

"Football is huge there," says the 24-year-old who was just been called up to the side to play in the Digicel Cup, one of the biggest international tournaments in the Caribbean, in October.

"Everywhere you go you get mobbed and even the friendlies are shown on Caribbean television.

"I go from here where I can walk down the street and not get recognised to there when I am getting mobbed by hundreds.

"When you just want to go to the corner shop you have to take a security guard so I can imagine what it is like for David Beckham."

Bourne made his debut in 2008 and played in the qualifiers against Surinam last year that the Golden Jaguars lost over two legs.

"It didn't really hit me I was playing international football until I got to the side of the pitch and the referees were wearing Fifa badges and we were playing Cuba," he said.

"It felt good though, every footballer's dream is to play for their country."

Bourne joined Croydon from Staines Town in December on a duel registration deal after falling out of favour at Wheatsheaf Park and deciding he needed games to get selected for Guyana.

Since then he has been an instrumental part of Tim O'Shea's side as they push for promotion from Ryman League Division One South, retaking top spot on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Walton Casuals thanks to Rory Hill's goal.

"I don't feel any pressure around the club now we are top," he said.

"We are all having a great time and enjoying it while we are up there.

"We just take each game as it comes and try to win as many games as we can."