HOME-grown midfielder Chris Lines believes that manager Darrell Clarke is putting together the best Bristol Rovers' side since the one that won promotion under Paul Trollope almost a decade ago. Lines was graduating from the youth ranks around the time a team containing the likes of Stuart Campbell, Craig Disley, Steve Elliott, Rickie Lambert and Richard Walker secured a place in League One following a play-off final success over Shrewsbury in 2007. He went on to play over 150 times as Rovers enjoyed four consecutive seasons in League One before completing a move to Sheffield Wednesday in the aftermath of relegation in 2011. He returned to the Memorial Stadium last season, following four years away, and he said: "It was a big decision to drop down to the Conference when I initially came back. It proved to be a good one for me because we didn't lose a game and we have cracked on again this season. The promotion was great but it was more important that we worked hard to build on that. We are still only in League Two and we have to get back to League One. Everything is on the up and that is great because this club needs to be back in League One and drawing crowds of 10,000 week-in-and-week out. I was a bit unsure that we would be able to get into a position to make that happen but with half-a-season down now I think we can believe that it is a fully realistic ambition. I can't remember playing in too many sides as good as this one since back in the days when we were promoted to League One last time. We have shown what we can do and the aim for everyone has to be to keep working hard towards getting this club as high as possible." Rovers' latest victory - a 2-1 success against in-form Oxford United – saw Darrell Clarke's side move up to fourth place and within two points of the automatic promotion places. Almost 2,500 supporters made the trip to the Kassam Stadium on Sunday, and Lines said: "It was an unbelievable result because I doubt there were many people outside of the club who thought we could go there and win. The fans are back onside because there is a feeling that they have got their team back. The away support we had at Oxford on Sunday was like going back to those early days in League One. It didn't matter whether we were north, south, east or west, they'd always travel. Most people I speak to when I'm out and about in Bristol say that they are going to a lot of away games and that is what we need. It certainly helps when you see all those fans there because you are that little more determined to get a result and send them home happy." Lines, meanwhile, has endured what he described as a "disrupted" campaign after squad rotation and a recent stomach injury combined to limit the midfielder to starts in just less than 50 per cent of Rovers' 31 games so far this season. He was back in the starting line-up at the Kassam Stadium for the first time since November 24, and he said: "It has been frustrating. I started feeling there was a problem after one of the games earlier in the season because I woke up the following day with a pain in my stomach and groin. Initially I was told it might be a hernia but I had a scan and it came back showing an inflamed pubis area, which is something I suffered with earlier in my career. The only way to cure it was to basically do nothing for three weeks to allow it to settle down. It was frustrating because the lads were doing well and I wanted to play. I've built it up slowly and thankfully there has been no reaction since I returned to training a couple of weeks ago. It was good to start the game at Oxford on Sunday and I hope that I can crack on again now." http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTO...tory-28561958-detail/story.html#ixzz3xi1jjp1q
