IT’S been a case of ‘have boots, will travel’ for Craig Hinton in pre-season.

Having found himself without a club – and a job after a stint as assistant manager at Bristol Rovers was ended – the former Kidderminster Harriers defender featured for three different clubs in warm-up games before plonking his kit-bag at Solihull Moors.

Initially, it’s a short-term arrangement with Hinton helping out Moors pal Marcus Bignot.

But the 33-year-old is just happy to be lacing up his boots once more.

Tendinitis in both knees meant he played only a handful of times with Northampton Town before a winter loan spell at Luton Town was ruined by an enforced snow break.

Then when Stuart Campbell was appointed caretaker boss at Bristol Rovers in February, Hinton made a return to the Memorial Ground, where he had spent five years, to be his No.2 in a desperate rescue mission to keep them in League One.

“It was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” said Hinton. “I had a great time at Bristol as a player, playing at Wembley, winning a play-off final, and playing at the Millennium Stadium in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final.

“But they were in a dire situation with dozen games left in the season. We had a chance to get out of the relegation zone but we just missed out.

“We would have loved to have stayed but the club appointed Paul Buckle as boss so that was the end of that. That’s football.”

For now, UEFA B coach Hinton wants to contribute to turning around Moors’ miserable start. Today, they head to Vauxhall Motors looking to end a run of four successive defeats in the Blue Square Bet North.

“I haven’t really played for six or seven months,” said Hinton. “I only played one game for Northampton last season and a couple of times on loan at Luton before I went to Bristol. I’m enjoying being involved,” said Hinton.

“Hopefully I can bring a little bit of experience to the team. Moors have got some good players. You can see that in training.

“It’s just a question of gelling everything together. If the lads play to their potential, they are a very good team.”