Carlisle Utd's Max Crocombe on his Olympics anguish and his big ambitions

"Sorry, mate, it just comes out when I talk about this," says Carlisle United's new goalkeeper, who had been an eloquent guide through his interesting life before his mood darkened when moving onto the business of last summer.

Crocombe was unsure how much to say, "because someone along the line will get offended," but found it impossible not to talk about the agonising and controversial time that he and his New Zealand colleagues were on the verge of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics, but never made it.

The bitter memory has barely faded from the day, last July, when the Kiwis beat Vanuatu in the Pacific Games Under-23 semi-finals, setting up a showdown with Fiji for the right to play in Rio, before an eligibility complaint was made about Crocombe's team-mate, Deklan Wynne. There was no leniency and New Zealand were immediately disqualified.

Current footage of the Games in Brazil has made the anguish feel sudden again. "I can't even turn it [the Olympics] on the TV, to be honest," Crocombe says.

What cost Wynne was a Fifa statute that said any player not born in a country, or without a parent or grandparent from that country, must have lived there for five years after the age of 18. South Africa-born Wynne, 20, was not old enough to have done so, despite having played three senior internationals before the fateful episode.

"That rule, I always understood, was in place to stop the trafficking of kids into football," Crocombe says. "But he [Wynne] had moved to New Zealand with his family, as a kid, and only progressed into football later."

Does he suspect who shopped Wynne? "Yeah, but I can't say. Someone who was somehow aware of the rules - and made the complaint as soon as the final whistle went. The timing was quite strange."

There were, he later admits, tears among the devastated Kiwi players. "We had all been screened and checked beforehand," he says, "so it was all quite messed up. It can make kids' futures, this, and who knows if the chance will come again? We'd all worked so hard, and then to have the opportunity taken away without losing a game..."

Crocombe's expression remains bereft. "Honestly, I've never felt so low. You like to think you're mentally strong. But nothing prepares you for that."

And so, instead of Rio this summer, Crocombe focused on furthering his domestic career. The 23-year-old joined Carlisle earlier this month after impressing on trial. "I've settled in pretty well," he says, brightening. "I like the dynamics of the team. Everyone wants to achieve something. And I like the place. Everything's close by. It's got a cinema, Nando's - exactly what your generic footballer wants."

Crocombe was already a little familiar with the surroundings, and not just because the squad includes his former Oxford team-mate Michael Raynes. "I've travelled up here before, believe it or not," he says. "I came in the car by myself when I wasn't in the squad for Oxford."

Crocombe joined the away fans as Oxford lost 2-1 to a late Derek Asamoah goal at Brunton Park in October 2014. "It was one windy day," he laughs. "But when I don't have football in my weekend, I'm kind of lost. I just thought it was a good way to support the lads. Sometimes that's important to teams, people not in the starting XI keeping their spirits high."

Crocombe had hoped to push through himself at Oxford, but eventually, after just six first-team appearances, he was eager to move on. Was there simply too much competition at the newly-promoted League One club? "I'm not sure about that," he frowns. "I think it was more that an opinion was set a couple of years ago, and without going too far into it, I'm happy that it's ended.

"As much as I loved the club, it wasn't healthy for me to progress there. I did everything I could to stay and push on. They questioned my experience, so I went out on loan [to Nuneaton, Barnet and Southport], and I felt I took all the opportunities I got. It was frustrating I couldn't quite turn that corner and convince the manager.

"I made some friends for life, and it was really touching when people contacted me on social media to wish me well. But it came to a standstill. I was probably fighting a lost cause."

So it is at Carlisle that Crocombe will try to convert potential that was first nurtured in the controversial football town of Milton Keynes. He moved there from Auckland aged four, through his father's trading card business, and whilst growing up benefited from one of the most divisive episodes in recent English football history: the relocation of Wimbledon FC.

He was in the same MK Dons youth intake as George Baldock and George Williams; the same academy which has also produced England's Dele Alli. "I absolutely loved it," he says. "Whether you think the move was right or wrong, I think everyone has to credit the club for how they focus on the youth system. I remember the chairman [Pete Winkelman] talking about the club being a pathway for kids, and I think he's shown that."

At 6ft 4in Crocombe has the size and stature of a natural No1 but jokes that, like many keepers, he once harboured outfield ambitions - and briefly got to reignite them when, after leaving MK, he joined Buckingham Town. "That was a great year for me," he says. "I was doing my first year of A Levels and I just needed to find the love of the game again.

"It had got a bit too serious for me, and I'd stopped enjoying it. But I got that back at Buckingham. I played well over 100 games in the year. I was also playing for my local team, Willen. I lived and breathed football. It it wasn't for that move, I don't think I'd be a pro now."

There was one especially memorable game for Buckingham against Northampton ON Chenecks in the United Counties League. "I had a run of 15-20 games in goal, and then the manager pulled me out, so I could watch and learn off the other goalkeeper, who was more experienced," Crocombe says.

"I did that, took it all in, but by half-time we were losing 3-0. We made two subs, and I was the third. Another lad got injured and had to be taken off. It was the 47th minute and I was still in the dressing room.

"So I had to get myself back out - and they put me on up front. Ten minutes later, the ball's gone over the top, and I just finished it off."

Crocombe enjoyed being a temporary marksman, before reverting to goalkeeping. "That summer the Under-18 manager asked me to lead the front line in a tournament. I scored something like seven in four. Then I got signed by Oxford, which ended my striking dream..."

He knows he has now joined a club renowned for prolific keepers: "One of our family friends is from Gateshead, and when I signed for Carlisle he sent me a message, saying I'm still one goal behind Jimmy Glass. That's some reputation to live up to."

It is how well he keeps them out that will of course determine his path from here - and also steer his international hopes. New Zealand started following Crocombe's progress at Oxford, and he has represented his country's Under-20s and Under-23s, also making the senior squad.

Despite the Olympics debacle, he warms back to the subject. "It's been my goal for a long time to play for the full squad," he says. "I've come close a number of times. The set-up is brilliant and I always look forward to trips away with them."

Although his life in England has removed most traces of a Kiwi accent, Crocombe loves his homeland. "The traditions certainly live in my family," he adds. "Just singing the national anthem in Maori is quite incredible.

"The management are very keen to keep those things. This summer, in Papua New Guinea, we went to the cemetery to see the soldiers who'd died fighting for the country. It was stressed that we were no different to those young guys. It reminds you that you're not just playing football - you're representing the silver fern of New Zealand. It fills me with pride every time."

Crocombe's goalkeeping idol is Peter Schmeichel - a player as distinctive as he was brilliant. Does he agree that keepers must be a little, well, different? "Unfortunately, yeah," he says. "We're usually in our own world. But it's something you have to embrace.

"You have to stand there and get in the way of balls. I don't see the logic of why anyone would want to do that! But it grows on you. I love it. I just don't know why..."

It is not clear when his first Carlisle opportunity will come, Mark Gillespie having started 2016/17 well, but Crocombe says he will be prepared. "I'm confident I can push for the No1 spot. But you just have to focus on what you can do. Mark's a good goalkeeper. We help each other, really.

"I can't speak highly enough of the manager and Trace [coach Simon Tracey]. They've been so positive with me, and they've already picked up on things I can improve on. That's only going to help me."

And if Keith Curle ever finds himself a centre-forward short? Crocombe laughs again. "By all means, mate," he says. "Stick me up there."