ROVERS BEAT DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE
Attendance: 1,820 (603)Rovers secured win number seven on the road with a 0-3 win against Dagenham & Redbridge.
Lee Brown gave Rovers a first half lead with a well worked free kick routine before Rory Gaffney and Billy Bodin scored inside the final 10 minutes.
Darrell Clarke made three changes to the side that won last time out against York City as Will Puddy was handed his first game of the season in goal replacing Lee Nicholls who has returned to Wigan Athletic following his loan spell. The two other changes saw Daniel Leadbitter and Ollie Clarke come into the side at the expense of Paris Cowan-Hall and Billy Bodin who dropped to the substitutes bench.
Rovers started the game by passing the ball around the field brilliantly but it was the home side that had the first chance of the game. Ashley Chambers was allowed time and space to run at the Rovers back line before feeding Christian Doidge who could only manage a tame effort into the hands of Will Puddy.
We had to wait until the 24th minute for the next real effort as both sides continued to feel each other out. Following a long punt up field from Ayo Olileye, Christian Doidge managed to knock the ball down well into the path of Ashley Chambers who dragged his shot wide of Puddy's right hand post.
The width of the Rovers side looked like it was causing problems for the Daggers inside the opening half an hour which lead to Rovers first effort of the game.
After soaking up substantial pressure from the home side, Rovers countered quickly with Matty Taylor picking the ball out of the sky well before finding Lee Brown on the left hand side. The left wing-back powered towards goal but could only drag his shot wide of the goal.
Rovers took the lead with just over 30 minutes on the clock using a similar free kick routine that saw Matty Taylor score against Wycombe Wanderers in the league. However this time the ball was worked well to Lee Brown who made no mistake smashing the ball low and past Mark Cousins from the edge of the penalty area.
Dagenham & Redbridge tried to pull themselves level with Jodi Jones looking their likely outlet on the left hand side but his side were unable to capitalise on some of his good work and went into the half time break a goal behind.
Just inside the second half Darrell Clarke made a double substitution replacing two seemingly injured players. Steve Mildenhall and Jake Gosling came on to replace Will Puddy and Stuart Sinclair who both limped off with injuries.
The second half began the same as the first as both sides were very solid defensively but also offering little going forward until after being urged to shoot by the traveling support behind Mark Cousins' goal Ollie Clarke fired a shot from range just wide.
Minutes later Joss Labadie struck a a lovely free kick from 25-yards but Steve Mildenhall watched the ball the whole way pulling out a fantastic save to put the ball behind for a corner. From the resulting corner Clevid Dikamona managed to somehow hook the ball over the crossbar from 12-yards when it looked easier to hit the target.
Neither side really threatened in the second period with chances hard to come by for both sides until with just over 10 minutes left Rory Gaffney scored his first goal for the club since arriving on loan from Cambridge United.
It was initial good work from Gaffney who challenged for the ball in the air before falling at the feet of Matty Taylor. Taylor looked up before picking out a charging Rory Gaffney who took the ball well in his stride before calmly slotting the ball under Mark Cousins to put Rovers two goals to the good.
Rovers put a final nail in the Dagenham coffin deep into injury time as Matty Taylor picked up the ball on the edge of the area only to see his left footed effort controlled well in the penalty area by Billy Bodin who took a stride to his left before curling the ball into the back of the net.
Today's win sees Rovers pick up their seventh win away from home for the season and puts Rovers into the Play-Off places ahead of the busy festive period.
Up next for Rovers is the trip to AFC Wimbledon on Boxing Day before entertaining Leyton Orient at the Mem on the 28th December.
Dagenham: Cousins, Passley, Connors, Labadie, Dikamona, Boucaud (C), Chambers, Jones (Vassell - 65), Obileye (Nisworthy - 46), Hoyte, Doidge (Cureton - 65).
Unused Substitutes: O'Brien (GK), Raymond, Ferdinand, Hemmings.
Rovers: Puddy (Mildenhall - 49); Leadbitter (Bodin - 66), J. Clarke, Lockyer, Parkes, Brown; Mansell (C), O. Clarke, Sinclair (Gosling - 49); Taylor, Gaffney.
Unused Substitutes: McChrystal, Cowan-Hall, Easter, Harrison.