Bristol Rovers 2-1 Port Vale
Attendance: 9,088 (436)Rovers again came from behind to secure all three points against Port Vale at the Memorial Stadium.
Martin Paterson gave the visitors a first half lead before goals from Ellis Harrison and a Jermaine Easter penalty wrapped up all three points for the boys in blue and white.
Darrell Clarke made three changes to the side that beat Swindon Town on Tuesday, handing starts to Peter Hartley, Ellis Harrison and Jermaine Easter.
Rovers started the game brightly having large dangerous spells in possession with the first chance of the game falling to Jermaine Easter after a long throw fell to him at the far post but the Welshman blasted his shot high over the crossbar.
Ollie Clarke came into today's get fresh off the back of a Man of the Match performance against Swindon Town on Tuesday and stung the palms of Jak Alnwick, before firing wide moments later.
Rovers continued to look dangerous inside the opening 20 minutes as Rory Gaffney found some space on the Rovers right hand side but his cross was just over the heads of Ellis Harrison and Ollie Clarke.
However for all their early pressure, Rovers again found themselves a goal behind thanks to Martin Paterson. After a slight mix-up with the Rovers back line, Paterson found himself in acres of space inside the Rovers area and calmly fired the ball under Kelle Roos in Vale's first real effort of the game.
Darrell Clarke's side continued to impress on the ball but failed to form anything dangerous in the final third with efforts from Jermaine Easter and Ellis Harrison failing to hit the target.
With half time looming, Darrell Clarke's men pulled themselves level as a pin-point cross from Lee Brown on the Rovers left was straight into the path of Ellis Harrison who out jumped Nathan Smith before thundering his header past Jak Alnwick.
Rovers started the second half brightly but with just 10 minutes gone Darrell Clarke made a double substitution as Billy Bodin and Byron Moore took to the field replacing Ollie Clarke and Rory Gaffney switching Rovers into a more traditional 4-4-2 formation.
The introduction of two wingers seemed to cause Port Vale all sorts a trouble and within minutes Rovers were awarded a penalty after Paulo Tavares fouled Byron Moore. Jermaine Easter stepped up and hit the penalty low beyond Jak Alnwick into the bottom left of the goal.
Byron Moore looked a constant threat after coming off the substitutes bench as he latched onto a loose ball inside the penalty area. Vale goalkeeper Jak Alnwick came off his line quickly but the former Port Vale man Moore looked for a delicate chip to the far post but saw his effort come back off the outside of the upright.
The visitors tried hard to find an equaliser without ever really testing Kelle Roos in the Rovers goal. The three points moves Rovers up to 13 points from their 9 games this season and up into the top half of the table.
Up next for Rovers is the trip north to take on Sheffield United on Tuesday night before traveling to Sixfields to take on Northampton Town next Saturday.
Rovers: Roos; Leadbitter, Lockyer (C), Hartley, Brown; O. Clarke (Moore - 56), Lines, Sinclair; Easter (James - 77), Harrison, Gaffney (Bodin - 56).
Unused Substitutes: Mildenhall (GK), J. Clarke, Boateng, Colkett.
Port Vale: Alnwick, Purkiss (C), Streete, Smith, Knops; Grant, Tavares (Cicilia - 67), Pereira (Brown - 77); Jones, Paterson, Thomas (Shalaj - 58).
Unused Substitutes: Santos (GK), Brown, Kiko, Smoros, Hart.