Mangotsfield United 1
Bament (79)
Bristol Rovers 4
Broom (3 & 26 (pen)), Mehew (36), Malpas (41)
A young Bristol Rovers side progressed through to the next round of The GFA Senior Challenge Cup with a convincing win against Mangotsfield United at Cossham Street tonight.
All four of their goals came in an impressive first half in which they bossed the midfield and were clinical in front of goal, scoring through Ryan Broom (2), Ollie Mehew and Jay Malpas.
On a bitterly cold night and a tricky surface Rovers took the lead after only three minutes. Home goalkeeper Kyle Phillips parried Mehew’s effort into the path of Broom, who lashed a shot back past the shot stopper.
Sam Hill’s eighth minute shot, which drifted wide of the target was the only notable home effort of a one sided opening period.
On 26 minutes Broom scored his, and Rovers’, second goal of the night when he beat Phillips from the penalty spot after being brought down by defender Josh Bennett.
Ten minutes later Kieran Preston found Mehew with a long clearance and the son of the Mangotsfield manager ran on to beat Phillips with a stunning shot to register an outstanding goal.
With four minutes of the half remaining Eliot Green played in Malpas, who duly scored his side’s fourth goal of the evening.
Green hit a shot wide of the mark early in the second half, while Malpas was denied a second goal by Phillips, who saved the midfielder’s shot with his legs.
Blake Davies was unlucky not to score a fifth goal for Rovers but his shot was pushed on to the bar by Phillips and scrambled away.
On the hour mark Preston made an excellent save from Luke Bryan, touching the striker’s effort over the bar. The keeper then made a comfortable save from Joe Hillard, though he was beaten on 79 minutes when Ben Bament scored with a shot from just inside the area.
Alan Walsh, in charge of the side for this game, was delighted with the victory and had this to say afterwards; “It was an excellent first half performance by the lads when they scored four great goals and controlled the game. I really couldn’t have asked any more of them.
“At half time I asked them to go out and see if they could match their first half performance but, credit to Mangotsfield, they came at us a little bit and the second half was a much more even affair.
“They certainly didn’t give us the time on the ball they had allowed us before the break and to be honest it became more difficult for both sides as the freezing conditions meant that the pitch was getting firmer by
the minute.
“However you can’t take anything away from the lads as their first half performance was outstanding and they thoroughly deserved to win.”
Rovers: Kieran Preston, Danny Greenslade, Tom Fry, Alfie Kilgour, Bradley Confrey, Jay Malpas, Eliot Green (Connor Jones, 78), George Corp (Lewis Leigh Gilchrist, 70), Blake Davies (Tyrone Tucker-Dixon, 68), Olly Mehew, Ryan Broom
Substitutes: Sam Iles, Charlie Phillips