Bristol Rovers 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
Vertu Trophy, The Memorial Stadium, Tuesday 11 November 2025
Bristol Rovers secured top spot in the Southern Group B in the Vertu Trophy after a 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle in the Vertu Trophy.
The Pirates knew only a victory in normal time would be enough to leapfrog the Pilgrims, who started the day one point above the Gas in first place.
The Gas left it to the final seconds, with Kamil Conteh netting his first goal for the Club from close range after a mistake from goalkeeper Luca Ashby-Hammond.
The win was Rovers' first at The Memorial Stadium since the end of September, securing them a home draw in the knockout stages of the Vertu Trophy.
The game kicked off with the visitors being reduced to ten men almost immediately. Bryant Bilongo, who started the fixture up front, spun past Kornél Szűcs before being dragged down by the defender. Referee Thomas Farmer took a moment before brandishing a red card.
Jack Sparkes flashed the following free-kick just over before the Pirates, then went close again. Jack Sparkes pulled a pass across to Luke Thomas, with the winger's curling shot pushed over by the goalkeeper.
The hosts attacked the fixture, with Fabrizio Cavegn replacing Stephan Negru on the half-hour mark.
Lorent Taraj was isolated in Plymouth's attack, with the only other half-chance of the first half falling to Taylor Moore. The centre-back connected with Sparkes' corner but knocked his header wide.
Two further changes were made at half-time for Rovers, with Alfie Chang and Shaq Forde coming on for Macauley Southam-Hales and Bryant Bilongo.
Forde was looking dangerous on the wing and looked to get his first goal of the season, coming in off the right wing before bending a low strike wide of the left post.
Plymouth had five shots in the contest but failed to hit the target. Matty Sorinola went the closest for the visitors but blasted over from the right side of the box.
Conteh and Fabrizio Cavegn then shot just wide in quick succession before the hosts scored in the final moments of the contest. A corner from the left was dropped by Ashby-Hammond and straight to Conteh, who bundled the ball in just before the final whistle.
Bristol Rovers: Young, Sparkes, Moore ©, Mola, Sotiriou, Thomas, Conteh, Southam-Hales (Forde 46), Howley, Bilongo (Chang 46), Negru (Cavegn 30)
Subs not used: De-Long, Hill, English, Iwhiwhu
Goals: Conteh 90+4
Booked: Cavegn
Plymouth Argyle: Ashby-Hammond, Ross, Szűcs, Tolaj, Mumba, Mitchell, Boateng, Roberts (Ibrahim 84), Sorinola, Dale, Finn (Paterson 84)
Subs not used: Baker, Oseni, Pepple, Hatch, Hayman
Booked: Ashby-Hammond, Ross, Mumba
Red: Kornel Szűcs
Referee: Aaron Farmer
Attendance: 2110 (697 away)
