Bristol Rovers

Attendance: 6,423 (353)

Rovers picked up their second win of the season at the Mem with a 2-0 win against Carlisle United.

Two second half goals from Matty Taylor secured all three points for Darrell Clarke's side who now sit just outside the play-offs.

Darrell Clarke made one change to the side that lost to League One Southend United in the JPT on Wednesday as Cristian Montano came in for only his second start replacing Jake Gosling.

It was all Rovers in the opening stages and it was Montano that was causing the Carlisle defence issues with his early deliveries into the penalty area. His first was turned behind for a corner which fell to Tom Parkes who managed to pick out Matty Taylor in the penalty area who forced a good reaction save from Mark Gillespie.

Moments later Parkes almost turned provider again, this time for Jermaine Easter who again stung the palms of the United shot stopper.

Carlisle offered very little in the opening 20 minutes as Rovers seemed the more likely to make something happen as Cristian Montano and Jermaine Easter both saw shots fly off target.

The home side continued to press as the rain died down but United were restricting Darrell Clarke's men to long range efforts which saw Cristian Montano and Lee Brown both try their luck from range.

Rovers started the second half with the same intensity that they showed in the first half as Chris Lines picked out a powerful run from Cristian Montano down the left hand side who then picked out Matty Taylor in the penalty area who's header was turned behind for a corner which Carlisle cleared easily.

It took a double substitution from Carlisle to spark them into their first decent effort of the game as a David Atkinson free kick from long range was met by Mark Ellis in the penalty area who turned the ball wide from six-yards out.

Minutes later it was Rovers who took the lead. Matty Taylor won the ball back inside the Rovers half, the striker then offloaded the ball to Stuart Sinclair in the middle of the field. Sinclair then turned his man before feeding Billy Bodin who was charging through the middle of the pitch.

Bodin lifted his head up and saw Chris Lines powering down the left hand side of the area, picked him out before Lines squared the ball across the six-yard area where Matty Taylor was on hand to fire the ball past Mark Gillespie from close range.

Darrell Clarke's side didn't seem content with just the one goal lead and continued to dominate the game as Billy Bodin took the ball on the Rovers right before forcing a decent save out of Gillespie.

However, Matty Taylor wasn't happy with just the one goal as he picked the ball up from outside the area, twisted and turned his way into the penalty box before hitting a shot quickly with his left foot catching out Gillespie at his near post.

Carlisle's spirits seemed to hit rock bottom at that point as Rovers wrapped up their second win of the season at the Mem to sit just outside the play-offs.

Up next for Rovers is the trip along the M4 to take on Crawley Town at the Checkatrade.com stadium.

Rovers: Nicholls; J. Clarke, Parkes, McChrystal (C), Brown; Bodin, Sinclair, Lines (O. Clarke - 90), Montano (Gosling - 83); Taylor, Easter (Blissett - 88).

Unused Substitutes: Mildenhall (GK), Kilgour, Mansell, Lucas.

Carlisle: Gillespie; Miller, Atkinson, Brough, Sweeney, Dicker (C), Balanta (Rigg - 61), Thompson (Ibehhre - 61), Asamoah, Ellis, McQueen (Wyke - 79).

Unused Substitutes: Hanford (GK), Hery, Osei, Archibald-Henville.