Dominic Blizzard scored his first goal for Bristol Rovers and helped the side to all three points at the Memorial Stadium this afternoon.

Blizzard was joined on the score sheet by Jo Kuffour and Chris Lines as the home side went on to beat Colchester 3-2.

It was another entertaining home performance from Bristol Rovers, who did well against the strong aerial challenge of The Us.

Paul Trollope made four changes to the side that lost to Gillingham last weekend. A number of players have returned from injury, allowing the manager to revert back to the team that picked up three points against Charlton.

Mikkel Andersen was back between the posts, and Danny Coles, Chris Lines and Jo Kuffour all returned from injury to reclaim their places. Rhys Evans, Aaron Lescott, Charlie Reece and Andy Williams all dropped to the bench to make way.

Paul Heffernan nearly got things off to a flying start with a fierce shot from distance, which flew just wide of the upright.

But just moments later former Bristol City striker Steven Gillespie saw his header from Phil Ifil's cross pushed away to safety by Mikkel Andersen in the Rovers goal.

The travelling fans thought they had scored after 12 minutes when Gillespie, Colchester's danger man in the first half, got onto the end of a corner and shot wide from a few yards out.

Rovers then took the lead just after the quarter of an hour mark thanks to Dominic Blizzard. Heffernan played the ball to the midfielder who hit a sweet curling shot which ended up in the bottom right corner of the net.

The lead did not last long, as John-Joe O'Toole got on the end of an Ifil ball and headed home past a wrong footed Andersen.

Colchester tried to keep everything in the air, but Rovers worked hard to play their favoured passing game, and both teams were pretty evenly matched in the first half.

Gillespie had a shot straight at Andersen, then Heffernan had his shot tipped just wide by Ben Williams in the Colchester goal.

Steve Elliott also tried to get in on the act, shooting from distance, but his attempt sailed just wide.

Gillespie had one more chance at goal before half time, but again saw his shot go harmlessly wide.

Rovers started brightly in the second half, and the lively Kuffour saw his shot cut out by the Colchester United defence.

Then Stuart Campbell came close to scoring a rare goal for Bristol Rovers, but the Captains shot from distance was not quite on target.

Rovers were back on top after 67 minutes thanks to Kuffour. Some good build up play saw Danny Coles head the ball down to the diminutive striker, who managed to shake off his markers and fire home from close range.

Clive Platt almost got things back on terms for The Us but some good work from Andersen denied his close range shot.

Substitute Kayode Odejayi should have done better when he scuffed a shot in the penalty area.

Rovers then strengthened their lead, when Kuffour turned provider for Chris Lines. Kuffour did well in the box to pass the ball across goal to Lines, who was waiting to tap in from close range.

Andersen then did well to save a shot from Anthony Wordsworth, the Dane's initial punch out was met by Wordsworth, but the keeper got down low to block his shot.

Rovers sub Andy Williams nearly made it four for the Gas with a great individual run. He beat a number of defenders to get into the box, but his curling shot just missed the top left hand corner.

Then Andersen was called into action again to block Odejayi, who then made another error hitting the post from close range.

But Odejayi was not to be denied on his third attempt when he fired home with three minutes left on the clock.

The visitors piled on the pressure in the closing minutes, Matt Heath headed a shot straight into the arms of Andersen before O'Toole's ambitious over head kick missed the target.

But an impressive Rovers did enough to hang on and take all three points. They will be hoping for the same again when Stockport visit the Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.

Team: Mikkel Andersen, Byron Anthony, Danny Coles, Steve Elliott, Daniel Jones, Jeff Hughes (Ben Swallo), Dominic Blizzard (Carl Regan), Chris Lines, Stuart Campbell, Paul Heffernan (Andy Williams), Jo Kuffour.

Substitutes: Rhys Evans, Charlie Reece, Mark Wright, Aaron Lescott.

Colchester: Ben Williams, Danny Batth (Kevin Lisbie), Marc Tierney, Matt Heath, Phil Ifil (Ashley Vincent), John-Joe O'Toole, John White, Anthony Wordsworth, David Prutton, Clive Platt, Steve Gillespie (Kayode Odejayi)

Substitutes: Mark Cousins, Magnus Okuonghae, David Fox, Ian Henderson.

Referee: Mr Oli Langford