Craig Hinton hopes his part in Saturday's clean sheet against Crewe Alexandra will be enough to earn him his first start of the season.

The defender came off the bench to replace the injured Steve Elliott at the weekend, and performed well in a much-improved defensive display from Rovers.

Next up is a trip to play Colchester United, and Craig hopes his performance against the Railwaymen will keep him in the side.

"It's nice to get back playing again, and to get back in front of the crowd again," Craig told bristolrovers.co.uk, "Hopefully with the clean sheet, I'll have done enough to stay in the side now.

"With the goals we were conceding earlier in the season, you do wonder if you're going to get a chance. But it's one of those things where you just have to let Trolls make his decision and respect it.

"It's not nice being a substitute, but it's one of those things in football. You train all week and everything is geared towards Saturday, so anyone that does that and is happy to not be playing is in the wrong profession.

"I'm at the age now though went I want to be playing, and hopefully I'll get another chance on Saturday."

As well as helping Rovers keep their first shut-out of the campaign, Craig came closest to continuing his goal scoring form from last season.

"I had an effort cleared off the line, I didn't see it too well myself, but apparently their lad just managed to clear it," he said.

"That was a shame because we created a lot of chances and we probably should have won it. But it was our first clean sheet, so it's something to be pleased with and something to push on from."