While there was plenty of noise inside Ashton Gate during Bristol City's 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle at the end of November, one of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came early in the first half when Sam Bell made his way out in front of the Lansdown Stand to warm-up as a substitute.

The 22-year-old had appeared in the Robins' opening day draw with Hull City and started their Carabao Cup defeat to Coventry City having recovered from a hamstring injury that ended his campaign prematurely last season.

However, his first start of the season was brought to an end after just 44 minutes as the academy graduate pulled with another hamstring injury that would see him stuck on the treatment table for almost another four months.

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"It's been quite tough, especially to have two big injuries in quick succession," Bell admitted on Friday afternoon. "It was quite frustrating, especially the second time around because you basically know you're going through the whole process again.

"Both times I came to terms with it as quickly as I could, I think that's what you've got to do. You can't dwell on it and you've just got to use it as an opportunity to strengthen yourself, even if that's off the field as well.

"It's probably easy for other people outside to say it's only an injury but this is our whole life."

City's misfortune on the injury front ultimately proved to be beneficial to Bell as during his recovery the young forward was joined by the likes of Rob Atkinson and Ayman Benarous who were forced to contend with their own setbacks after major injuries.

Although the young forward would have much rather have been playing with his teammates out on the Ashton Gate turf, their company alongside extra off-the-field tasks set by Liam Manning ensured that the 22-year-old continued his development even when he was stuck in the stands.

"It helps massively in terms of advice and even building relationships," the forward explained. "You spend so much time together on a one-on-one basis, especially if you're on a similar timeframe to another player so I definitely think that's a positive that can come out of being injured.

"You build new relationships and that can then transfer onto the pitch. I didn't [work with the analysts] this time around but during my first injury, I had a look at a couple of games before the Leicester game. I watched a couple of their games and had a look into how the analysts prep for us and it certainly makes you appreciate what they do.

"You watch the game through a different pair of eyes. When you're analysing what the team is trying to do and understanding it from the gaffer's viewpoint, you engage with it a bit more and understand it more."

However, after months on the sidelines, in the 88th minute of City's thrashing of Plymouth, the Ashton Gate crowd took to their feet to applaud Yu Hirakawa off of the field and then embrace Bell as he made what was just his second league appearance in nine months.

Although the versatile forward didn't manage to get on the scoresheet himself, he joined in the celebrations as Sinclair Armstrong wrapped all three points with a calm right-footed effort right at the start of stoppage time.

After a busy summer transfer window in South Bristol, the entire make-up of Manning's City squad is completely different to the one that was in place when Bell picked up his initial injury. In attack, the Robins were previously reliant on the goals of Tommy Conway with their options in the wide areas limited, but now the likes of Bell, Hirakawa, Anis Mehmeti, Scott Twine, George Earthy, Max Bird, Mark Sykes and even Harry Cornick are all fighting for a place in one of the attacking positions in the Reds' starting line-up.

While that means Bell has to be at his best to force his way back into the team week in and week out, the Bristol City academy graduate is relishing the challenge of forcing his way back into the fold consistently.

"We've added a lot in the attacking third of the pitch," admitted the 22-year-old. "We're creating a lot of chances, we're dominating teams in those areas and we've built from last season where defensively we were very sound but perhaps didn't have that killer edge at times.

"You can always work on that, I think we'd have liked to have killed a few games off but I definitely think that chance-creation wise we've built a lot on that and it's only a matter of time before we're consistently finding the net.

"As an attacker watching it, I couldn't wait to get back out there to contribute my bit."

Having impressed as a pseudo right wing-back off of the bench in the Robins' 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Tuesday night, Bell will be pushing to make his first Championship start since February when the Reds welcome QPR to Ashton Gate on Saturday lunchtime.

Marti Cifuentes' side are unbeaten in their last five matches and have managed to keep clean sheets in each of their last four games and while Bell is expecting the Hoops to provide a "tough" test, it is a challenge that he and his teammates in City colours are relishing in front of the home crowd.

"We know they're going to be a tough team to break down but that's what we sometimes need to do because teams come to us and know that we're going to pass it around and get in good areas so they try and eliminate that as much as possible. We need to find other solutions to break them down and hopefully, we can do that.

"It's massive, when we might be needing a goal, to have that encouragement [from the crowd] it can almost will the ball into the net and if we're winning, for them to get behind us and keep it out the other end is huge and hopefully, they get behind us this weekend."

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