York City 1-4 Bristol Rovers
Attendance: 4,525 (2,000)Rovers continued their quest for automatic promotion with a 1-4 win against York City at Bootham Crescent.
A Billy Bodin brace, coupled with goals from Jermaine Easter and Lee Mansell secured all three points with Kenny McEvoy hitting a consolation goal for the home side.
Darrell Clarke named an unchanged starting 11 that beat Exeter City last weekend with one change to the matchday squad as Jake Gosling came onto the substitutes bench to replace the injured Liam Lawrence.
Rovers started brightly pressing high up the find in the early stages as Billy Bodin's pressure forced an error from Scot Bennett allowing the Welshman space to run into the penalty area only for Dave Winfield to make a superb covering tackle.
It was all the team in yellow in the opening 15 minutes with Bodin having the pick of the chances as the winger drifted in from the right hand side to get his head on a Cristian Montano cross but Bodin glanced his header wide of the target.
The pressure was building in front of the York City end at Bootham Crescent and it was Billy Bodin who broke the deadlock. Rory Gaffney found Bodin in space on the edge of the area, he took his man on before lashing a low shot past Scott Flinders on his near post to give Rovers a deserved lead.
Darrell Clarke's side continued to assert their dominance on the fixture but rarely threatened Flinders in the York City goal with Cristian Montano and Lee Brown firing long range efforts over the bar as the clock ticked pass the half hour mark.
Matty Taylor had a fantastic opportunity to double Rovers lead just before half time as Dave Winfield's sloppy pass allowed the leagues top goal scorer through on goal one on one but Taylor dragged his shot narrowly wide.
York came out in the second half and looked a much better side pinning Rovers back for the first 15 minutes of the second half with some decent passing moves but never once threatened Steve Mildenhall in the Rovers goal.
Rovers offered very little in the opening exchanges with their only real "effort" coming from Cristian Montano who beat his man and tried his luck from a long way out but it was easy for Scott Flinders.
Darrell Clarke looked to freshen things up just past the hour mark as Jake Gosling and Ellis Harrison came on to replace Cristain Montano and Rory Gaffney and it was the Gibraltar International who was involved immediately as he was able to pick out Billy Bodin who stung the palms of Flinders with a right-footed shot from inside the area.
The changes seemed to freshen things up for Rovers going forward and it paid off almost instantly as Billy Bodin latched onto a mistake from the York back four before rounding Flinders and firing into an empty net.
Billy Bodin's second goal of the game gave Darrell Clarke's men renewed confidence going forward when substitute Ellis Harrison found space on the right hand side and managed to pick out Matty Taylor who could only hit a difficult volley over the crossbar.
Rovers continued to attack in search of a third when Jermaine Easter found space inside the penalty area and made no mistake stroking the ball under Flinders to give Rovers a three goal advantage.
However, seconds after the restart, York pulled a goal back as Rovers were completely undone on the left hand side before a low cross found Kenny McEvoy at the far post who just had to slide the ball into a virtually empty net.
Darrell Clarke's men didn't stop there and threw the kitchen sink at the Minstermen goal as Billy Bodin's initial shot was saved into the path of Jake Gosling who saw his effort blocked well before Lee Mansell arrived late to thump the ball past a helpless Scott Flinders to restore Rovers three goal advantage.
York: Flinders, Hendrie, Bennett, Winfield, Cameron, Summerfield, Berrett, Penn (C) (Carson - 56), Alessandra, Fewster, Galbraith (McEvoy - 56)
Unused Substitutes: Riordan, Swan, Thompson, Dixon, Ingham.
Rovers: Mildenhall; Leadbitter, Lockyer, McChrystal (C), Brown; Bodin, Mansell, Lines, Montano (Gosling - 64); Taylor (Easter - 78), Gaffney (Harrison - 68).
Unused Substitutes: Puddy (GK), Parkes, O. Clarke, Easter, McBurnie