Bristol Rovers 4-2 Bury F.C
Attendance: 7,843 (166 away)Goals from Matty Taylor, Rory Gaffney, Ollie Clarke and Peter Hartley helped Rovers come back from conceding an early goal to pick up three points at the Mem against Bury.
Heading into the game Rovers made four changes to team that faced Barrow last weekned, with Will Puddy, Hiram Boateng, Charlie Colkett and Matty Taylor come into the starting XI at the expense of Kelle Roos, Daniel Leadbitter, Chris Lines and Luke James.
Bury enjoyed a succession of early corners, courtesy of industrious work down the right-hand side by defender Craig Jones. Neil Danns was able to take advantage of a slack Rovers clearance from a set-piece and the midfielder directed a powerful volley over the bar from the fringes of the penalty area early on in the game.
A quick free-kick taken by Charlie Colkett in the centre of the pitch picked out Matty Taylor who was allowed the space to advance into the box, before laying off a pass into the path of Lee Brown who saw his first-time effort fizz past the post.
A long-ball forward from the Rovers defence caught the visitors back-four unaware, with Matty Taylor pouncing on the loose ball to get in behind the Bury defence, but the forward was unable to get his shot away under the pressure of three Bury defenders and the ball was eventually smoothed away from him by 'keeper Ben Williams.
Moments later Rovers found themselves in behind the Bury defence again when Charlie Colkett pierced the defensive line with an angled pass along the ground that set Rory Gaffney through on goal. The striker kept his composure to round the 'keeper before his shot was blocked on the line by the covering Jacob Bedeau.
The visitors found themselves in front just after the game past the twenty-minute mark. A deep cross from the left-hand side was driven into the Rovers box and headed clear by Tom Lockyer, but the clearance dropped to seventeen-year-old Scott Burgess, who was able to direct a powerful volley past Will Puddy to open the scoring.
After a series of endeavours into the Bury area, Rovers were back level just eight minutes after going behind, when an inviting cross from the left was met by Rory Gaffney, who cushioned the delivery towards goal which sparked a scramble on the goal line that eventually resulted in the striker being able to stab the ball home from close-range.
On the stroke of half-time Rovers took the lead after a cross from Charlie Colkett from the left caused the visitor's issues and Matty Taylor was on hand to pounce on the bouncing ball inside the box and fire home from close range.
Into the second half Rovers continued their attacking intent, with Rory Gaffney breaking into the box and playing a pass the eventually found Stuart Sinclair on the perimeter of the area and the midfielder opened up his body to pick out Matty Taylor who turned to hit a powerful effort on goal that was deflected clear by the feet of 'keeper Ben Williams.
Rovers added a third goal when Ollie Clarke was allowed space twenty yards from goal to look up and produce a driven effort on target that skidded across the wet surface and past Ben Williams to stretch Rovers' lead in the game.
After both sides made changes, it was Bury who were able to claw a goal back to cut the Gas' lead. A deep free-kick was directed high into the Rovers area and after a number of players attempted to get a foot on the ball, it was substitute George Miller who the ball eventually dropped kindly for and the substitute was able to dispatch from close-range in what was his first touch since making his introduction from the bench.
Daniel Leadbitter forced the visitors into conceding a free-kick on the very edge of the area and from resulting set-piece Lee Brown curled a left-foot shot narrowly over the crossbar.
Rovers were able to restore their two-goal advantage in the 82nd minute when a corner from the right by Boateng was headed back across goal by Rory Gaffney where Peter Harley was waiting to scramble the ball over the line.
The visitors were reduced to ten men late in the game when Neil Danns was a shown a straight red card for an incident off the ball and Rovers used their man advantage to see out the remaining minutes of the encounter to record the victory.
Next up for Rovers is a trip to Shrewsbury Town next Saturday in SkyBet League One.
Rovers: Will Puddy, Lee Brown, Tom Lockyer (C), Peter Hartley, Ollie Clarke, James Clarke, Matty Taylor (74' Luke James), Stuart Sinclair, Rory Gaffney, Hiram Boateng (84' Lee Mansell), Charlie Colkett (74' Daniel Leadbitter)
Subs: Kelle Roos (G), Ellis Harrison, Jermaine Easter, Billy Bodin.
Bury F.C: Ben Williams (G), Craig Jones (71' George Miller), Greg Leigh, Kelvin Etuhu, Danny Mayor, Tom Pope, James Vaughan, Neil Danns, Tom Soares (C), Scott Burgess, Jacob Bedeau.
Subs: Paul Rachubka, Anthony Dudley, Tom Walker, Hallam Hope, Callum Styles, Ryan Cooney