Scott Sinclair has confessed that he still feels he’s got “years left” after the 35-year-old Bristol Rovers winger reached 600 career appearances over the weekend.

The Gas youth product, who returned to his boyhood club in 2022, has enjoyed a stellar career playing for the likes of Chelsea, Celtic, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Swansea City amongst others, competing in the Premier League, Champions League and Europa League.

Having enjoyed the 20th anniversary of his first-team debut for Rovers as a 15-year-old recently, the forward reached another landmark on Saturday in the Gas’ 1-0 win at Cambridge United as he wracked up a 600th game of his club career.

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“Oh, it’s great,” Sinclair confessed when asked about his landmark appearance. “I think for me, you know, I still enjoy playing football. That's my main priority, to be here and keep playing and I still feel like I've got years left, so that’s a great thing.

“I’m still fit and I’m still enjoying it but only enjoying it when we’re winning. That’s the thing, is we just keep going on and winning games.”

It was a much-needed win for Rovers on the weekend as Inigo Calderon’s side ended a run of seven league matches without a victory in what was the first success of the Spaniard’s tenure at the third attempt.

Coincidentally, it was Sinclair who carved out the winning goal, crossing superbly for Luke Thomas to head home at the back-post midway through the first half.

The Gas’ current position is still precarious with Rovers sat in 20th place five points above the relegation zone but there is hope that the win over Cambridge can act as a springboard for a long-awaited climb up the league table.

“I think it was a long time coming,” Sinclair declared on the victory. “I think a lot of change and with everything with the club and I think we’re in a position we shouldn’t really be. But you’ve seen it today, the fight, the desire of all the players and hopefully we can kick on from this win and hopefully bounce up that league.

“I think this league is so tough. It doesn’t make a difference who you play against. It’s always going to be tough. I think it’s a massive confidence thing. I think when you’re confident as players, it becomes much easier. You could see the last 15 minutes of the game. It got a little bit edgy.

“Obviously the manager has come in and hasn’t been in here long but he’s trying to implement a lot of things in a short period of time and we’re taking it on board.”

In the immediate aftermath of the win at the Abbey Stadium, Calderon had been in charge for only nine days having officially started work in BS7 on December 27.

During such a short time frame, the Spaniard had taken charge of three matches while being offered next to no time on the training pitch with his new players.

This week will be the first clear one in the schedule since the 43-year-old’s arrival which should offer the opportunity to begin proper work on the grass as Calderon looks to implement his ideas and philosophies as quickly as possible.

Naturally, that will take time but Rovers will end up having a fortnight between league matches with their next outing in League One at home to Barnsley on January 18 following this weekend’s FA Cup third round trip to Premier League Ipswich Town.

Although their time together has been brief, Sinclair seemed to be impressed by the first impressions of the new head coach with the Gas captain saying: “Well, he's come in and I think he's brilliant and what he's trying to implement, the structure he's bringing in and the formation. But like I said, he's only been in a short period of time, so as time goes on, I'm sure he will sort of teach the squad a lot more things.

“They [Spanish coaches] all want to play but at the same time, in this league it’s all about winning games. That’s it. So it’s great if we can win games and play pretty football. So it’s an exciting time.

“He hasn’t had a full week yet. I think we played great football in the first half and then the second half was a little bit more different.

“Obviously, like I said, a little bit edgy but everyone’s excited and all the players are looking forward to working with him.

“This is football,” Sinclair added. “I think it’s going to be tough times but it depends how we’re going to deal with it and I think we’ve got the squad, we’ve got the team, we’ve got the talent in the dressing room but we’ve just got to put that all together and make sure we just keep getting results.”

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