Boss Curle makes experienced midfielder Chris Lines his third Cobblers signing

The 33-year-old was released by the Gas last week,a club he had been at since 2014, with manager Graham Coughlan deciding the central midfielder was not in his future plans.

Cobblers boss Keith Curle, who tried to sign Lines in the January transfer window, has been in talks with the player for a a while now, and the deal was finally sealed on Wednesday.

Lines will provide a wealth of experience to the Town midfield, with his performance in Rovers' final day win over Barnsley the 500th of his senior career.

Lines started out at his home town team Rovers having worked his way through their youth ranks,making his debut in 2006, and he has played the bulk of his career with the Memorial Stadium club, in two separate spells.

In between those stints in Gloucestershire, Lines has also played for Sheffield Wednesday and Port Vale, and enjoyed a short loan spell at Milton Keynes Dons.

He was part of the Rovers team that beat Curle's Town team 2-1 in the Football League Trophy at the PTS Academy Stadium in January, and was also in the team that won 6-0 at Sixfields in Sky Bet League One the previous season.

He was a regular for the Gas under previous manager Darrell Clarke, but once he was sacked, Lines featured just twice under Coughlan, and will now begin a new chapter in his career with the Cobblers.

Described as an elegant player, and a good passer of the ball, Lines is also considered to be a deadball specialist.

In his career, he has scored 43 goals, and won promotion on four separate occasions.

Three of those promotions came during his time at Bristol Rovers, and one while at Hillsborough.

Lines is the third player to join the Cobblers in the space of a little over a week, joining attacking midfielder Matty Warburton and left-sided utility man Joe Martin.