Bristol Rovers legend Barry Hayles is preparing for his 35th consecutive campaign in senior football after turning out for Combined Counties side Windsor in a pre-season friendly.
Hayles, 50, donned the No5 jersey against Cymru South side Briton Ferry Llansawel AFC, although the veteran conceded a penalty in the opening six minutes as Windsor fell to a 6-0 defeat, as reported by footballinbracknell.co.uk.
Hayles served as player/manager at Merstham last season but left the club following relegation and has signed for ninth-tier side Windsor as part of manager Mick Woodham’s backroom staff and is still in talks over whether his duties will include playing.
Hayles joined Rovers in 1997 from non-league Stevenage Borough, scoring 36 goals for the Gas over 76 appearances before departing in 1998 for Fulham for £2million. He famously turned down a transfer to Bristol City that summer, which helped further cement his legend among Gasheads.
The striker still regularly returns to Bristol to take part in charity testimonials, including the Martin Belsten Memorial Match.
Speaking about his time at Rovers, Hayles told Bristol Live last year : “Rovers gave me my chance in the Football League and I had a great time there. I’m a Gashead through and through.
"It was a fantastic period for me personally. I scored 26 goals, got the golden boot and we made the play-offs. I think we were favourites to get relegated and we switched that 360 and we nearly made the play-off final.”
Having also represented Millwall, Plymouth Argyle and Cheltenham Town, among others, Windsor are the 16th different club of his length and decorated career having started with Willesden Hawkeye in 1988.
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