CRAIG Hinton has linked up with his former Birmingham City youth coach again in a bid to add to his trophy cabinet.

The affable defender won the Conference in 2000 during his six years at Kidderminster Harriers but now feels the time is right for a new challenge.

Bristol Rovers boss Ian Atkins was able to better Harriers' terms to clinch the signing of Hinton on a two-year contract last week.

The 26-year-old, an Aggborough regular at centre-half or right-back, teams up with Kevan Broadhurst, now assistant at Rovers but formally a coach at Blues.

Hinton admitted: "I enjoyed my time with Kiddy but at this stage of my career I am convinced this is the right move for me.

"Kidderminster offered me a new contract but once I found out that Bristol Rovers were interested I was more than happy to talk to them.

"I knew Kevan because he was my youth team coach when I was at Birmingham City and when he asked me to come down and have a look around, I was impressed with Rovers' plans for the future.

"They told me about the new training ground and plans to improve the stadium."

Hinton is looking forward to playing in front of one of the largest and most passionate fan bases in Division Three but he realises the pressures that come with it.

He continued: "I know Rovers are a club with a big fan base and that supporters will be expecting at least a play-off place next season.

"That's quite right too because they are a big club, although they have finished in the bottom half in the last few years.

"Even so, they have still been getting average gates of over 7,000 which is a lot different to what I've been used to at Kidderminster.

"But the chance to come to a club who are expected to be up there is exciting. Ian Atkins told me that he wants to take the club forward and that we will be going for it, and now it's going to be up to the players.

"With the new signings they are making, everything sounds very positive. Now I'm just looking forward to getting started."

Hinton looks set to be used as either a right-back by Atkins or in a three-man defence and will certainly be missed by the Aggborough faithful.

However, despite his popularity, he had struggled to build on the promise which led to interest from Stockport and other higher-ranked clubs several seasons ago.

Though his best days were in the centre of defence, director of football Jan Molby felt his attributes were more suited to a full-back role.

After playing more than 280 games for Harriers, it will be interesting to see whether Hinton and other new signings at Rovers can rid the city club of their annual under-achievement.