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Having made his debut in 2016 Alby has made 232 appearances thus far for the Moatmen and hoped to top the 250 game mark in the coming months but had slipped down the pecking order of manager Marc Strzyzewski's squad of late and having returned to the squad on Saturday was an unused substitute.

On the news the Rovers manager commented: "It's a real shame to hear the news regarding Alby's decision to leave Gresley. I'd like to wish Alby all the best in his future. Since we arrived Alby was a player we were really looking forward to working with and we would have loved to have seen him stay and see us through what's been a difficult spell for everyone of late. As I say to everyone, you have to do what's right for yourself above anyone in football and unfortunately for us Alby feels that's away from Gresley at this time. Alby will be missed on and off the pitch but our main focus remains on everyone who is with us and those who want to help get the club out of the position we find ourselves in."

Chairman Gary Norton added: "As a club we are extremely disappointed to lose a player of Alby's quality. He's a local lad and been with us for a long time and really developed well over the last few seasons. I can fully understand supporter frustration at Kane and of course now Alby moving on but in both cases it's been their own choice considering what's best for them at the time. Alby spoke to me prior to announcing his intention to leave and said he simply wants to play every week and having found himself out of the starting line up recently he can't see that happening at the moment and so he has decided to move on and wished us all the best for the rest of the season. He also said he would return to the club in the future and of course the door will always be open for that to happen from my perspective."

Norton continued: "I had a similar issue back in my time as manager when I left my then captain Carl Slater out of the side for a game after we had a bad start to our league season. He then left to join another club and supporters were understandably up in arms. On that occasion we went on a 20 plus game unbeaten run and won the Midland Alliance league so it didn't turn out too bad after all and it was soon forgotten!! Whilst I'm not suggesting we will see that happen given the position we find ourselves in the point I’m making is that players, local or not, move on all the time and as a club, as frustrating as that might be sometimes we have to accept it and move on ourselves. I personally hope both Alby and the likes of Kane return at some point but for now we have to focus on supporting Marc and those players that remain at the club as we try and get the results needed get out of the relegation fight we are in."