Rovers and ADO Den Haag shared five goals in an entertaining pre-season friendly at the Memorial Stadium this afternoon.

The Dutch side ran out 3-2 winners in a free-flowing and lively encounter, with Rickie Lambert and Ben Hunt on the scoresheet for the Pirates.

Despite the result, the performance from Paul Trollope's side was encouraging throughout the 90 minutes, and only some inspired goalkeeping from Robert Zwinkels in the first half kept the home side at bay.

After a bright start from Rovers, Den Haag edged ahead after ten minutes thanks to a fine effort from striker Richard Knopper.

The forward turned superbly on the edge of the box before firing home a delightful strike into the top left corner of the goal, beyond the reach of Steve Phillips.

Den Haag were restricted to very few opportunities on goal, and aside from the odd long ball forward, Phillips rarely had much to do during the game, aside from picing the ball out of the back of his own net.

Stuart Campbell cut in from the right and rifled over, and Lambert was denied on the counter as his effort was blocked on the edge of the penalty area.

Campbell's volley from a half-cleared corner was deflected away from the target, before Zwinkels pulled off a series of fantastic saves from Craig Disley, Craig Hinton and Lambert to keep his side's slender lead in tact.

Another attack from Rovers saw the post come to the rescue of the Dutch side as Lambert went close, and then Hinton's header from a Campabell corner was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar.

Hunt was the last player to try his luck on goal before half-time, but after being played through on the edge of the box his left-footed strike was too close to Zvinkels to trouble the visiting goalkeeper.

Den Haag increased their advantage at the start of the second half after some neat work down the right saw Hursut Meric picked out in space, and his downward header back across goal left Phillips with no chance.

Rovers responded positively, and after Hunt placed a shot inches wide of the post, Lambert cut the deficit to just one goal as he beat the offside trap before placing a low drive underneath the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Disley was denied an equaliser after his shot-come-cross was smothered, and Hunt should have done better after being played in over the top only for the former West Ham United man to scuff his attempt well wide of the target.

Phillips was caught in possession in his own penalty area as Den Haag were handed an unnecessary third goal out of virtually nothing.

The goalkeeper was tackled with the ball at his feet, and after bringing down his man inside the penalty area, referee Keith Stroud showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot allowing Hans van der Haar the opportunity to step up and slide the ball home into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Within two minutes Rovers were back in the game, with Hunt making up for his earlier misses with a fine flick into the bottom left corner of the goal after being picked out in space on the right side of the box.

Hinton powered a header narrowly over, before Lambert enjoyed the final chance of the game with a thunderous shot that sailed inches wide of the post with the goalkeeper well and truly beaten.

The result wasn't what Rovers fans would have wanted, but the performance from the team was of an impressive standard, and those supporters that turned out to watch the match will have gone home encouraged by what they saw.

Reported by Ian Cole