Rovers were undone by Southampton in a devastating second half period at the Memorial Stadium this evening.

The home side took the lead in a fairly even first half, thanks to a Jeff Hughes penalty, but were eventually beaten 5-1 by an impressive Saints side.

Goals from Morgan Schneiderlin, Jason Puncheon, Adam Lallana and two from former Rovers striker Rickie Lambert sealed the points for the visitors.

The ever impressive Lambert ended his three game drought and helped the Saints leap frog over his old club in the League.

Paul Trollope made one change to the side that lost to Oldham at the weekend. Andy Williams came back into the side in place of Darryl Duffy.

Williams, who scored the last minute winner in the 3-2 victory at St Mary's earlier in the season, lined up up front with Jo Kuffour.

It was an entertaining opening spell, with Southampton taking the initiative early on and making the Rovers defence work hard.

Michail Antonio was first to test Mikkel Andersen in the Rovers with a low 20 yard shot, before Southampton had a shot cleared off the line.

Andersen was then called into action to block a powerful downward header from the dangerous Lambert.

Rovers then managed to get themselves into the game, and apply a bit of pressure of their own.

Jo Kuffour and Andy Williams combined well to set Kuffour free in the box, but he was unable to get a good shot away after being closed down by the Southampton defence.

Chris Lines almost capitalised from the resulting corner, but his header was blocked.

Stuart Campbell then had make a goal line clearance to deny Lambert as the play switched to the other end of the field.

It was Rovers who eventually took the lead, after a silly mistake from José Fonte, who fouled Jo Kuffour just as the ball was going out of play. Hughes stepped up and slotted home the resulting spot kick.

And Rovers nearly made it two moments later when Kuffour sent Williams away towards the goal. Willo made a blistering run through the midfield but his shot was forced wide by Kelvin Davis in the Southampton goal.

Rovers continued to pile on the pressure, and Kuffour looked like he was going to get his name on the score sheet, after getting on the end of a pass from Dominic Blizzard. The strikers' shot from the edge of the box ricocheted off the cross bar.

Lambert then made his presence felt, scoring twice in just three minutes just before the break.

First he got his head on the end of a cross from Puncheon and fired the ball into the back of the net, and before Rovers knew what hit them, the big marksman had stepped up and scored a trademark 30 yard free kick, which took a massive deflection off the playing surface.

Rovers' misery was further compounded when Steve Elliott was forced to limp off early in the second half, and Rovers were made to reorganise their defence, with Carl Regan coming in at right back.

The Saints were soon able to extend their lead after the home side failed to clear a ball in from Jon Ostemobor. Schneidelin was left in acres of space and smashed home a volley from 25 yards out.

Rovers were left realing, and Antonio almost put the game out of sight, but he shot wide from a close distance, before Lallana almost put away a Lambert cross.

The home side tried to keep themselves in the game, with Willimas and Kuffour again combining well, but Southampton then sealed their victory when Lallana cut through the Rovers defence to make it 4-1.

And to make matters worse, Puncheon was given too much time and he cut in and had a shot from the edge of the box which beat Andersen, leaving the Rovers fans in shock.

With the final whistle approaching Rovers tried in vein to reduce the deficit; Hughes made a good run, before producing a weak finish.

Carl Regan then made a goal line clearance with just minutes left on the clock, but it was too late for Bristol Rovers.

After an entertaining opening period, Rovers fans were left in shock, as I don't think anyone was predicting a score line like that.

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

Substitutes: Mark Wright, Darryl Duffy, Charlie Reece, Ben Swallow, Eliot Richards, Rhys Evans

Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Dan Harding, José Fonte, Daniel Seaborne, Jon Otsemobor, Jason Puncheon (Papa Waigo N'Diaye), Dean Hammond, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michail Antonio (David Connolly), Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert (Lee Barnard).

Substitutes: Bartosz Bialkowski, Chris Perry, Paul Wotton, Lloyd James.

Referee: Phil Crossley.