Bristol Rovers defender Rollin Menayese has been used to the bench at Bristol Rovers since moving to The Memorial Stadium from non-league side Weston-super-Mare in the summer of 2017.

The tall and powerful centre-back has appeared just twice in the league so far this season, both appearances from the bench, and he appeared 16 times in the league for Aldershot Town last season while on loan as he looked to get more important first-team minutes under his belt.

Menayese, who turns 22 this December, is still yet to break into the Rovers first-team squad on a regular basis, and has made just the nine first-team appearances across all competitions over the last two-and-a-bit years. The defender will surely be feeling that it's make or break time for him this campaign if he is to carve out a career in the Football League for himself.

The 21-year-old has had a whirlwind career so far, after being released by Cardiff City in 2016 before going on to sign for Weston-super-Mare and spending six months on the south coast before departing for Rovers, where he has spent time on loan with Swindon Town and Aldershot.

Standing at 6'3", the defender has been forced to sit and watch on from the bench or the sidelines as the preferred back three of Tony Craig, Tom Davies and Alfie Kilgour perform week in, week out.

The performances of Kilgour somewhat have been bitter sweet for Menayese, after the other young defender in the first-team squad has overtaken the former Cardiff man within Coughlan's personal pecking order at The Memorial Stadium since the former Football League defender took over the reins from Darrell Clarke last December.

Menayese will view his loan move to Aldershot last season as a disappointment and being one of the reasons why Kilgour has gone above him in the pecking order, with the Bristolian defender having been on loan at fellow National League side Maidenhead United last term and put in some impressive displays for the Magpies before being recalled in March by Coughlan.

Centre-back Menayese will know though that he now has to fight for every ball in training and prove his worth to Coughlan, with the January transfer window rapidly approaching.

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