Dundee 0-3 Bristol Rovers
Pre-season, St Andrews Elite Performance Facility, Wednesday 29 July 2026, 7pm KO
Bristol Rovers started their trip to Scotland with a 3-0 victory over Scottish Premiership outfit Dundee.
The Pirates dominated the first half and gained the lead through new addition Jack Aitchison, who got onto the end of Joe Quigley's chested pass before sending a half-volley into the bottom left corner.
Steve Evans' men added a second seven minutes later. The Dee failed to clear away a corner from the left, with Shaq Forde thumping in from close range.
In the second half, Tommy Leigh had a close-range attempt saved, and Ben Purrington smashed the post. The Gas then made eight changes towards the closing stages and found a third goal to complete a fantastic performance. Jack Sparkes' corner found Riley Harbottle, who found the bottom corner with a clever header.
Rovers started on the front foot and put Dundee under pressure, but could not trouble the goalkeeper. Quigley led the attack and had two shots blocked in the opening exchanges, whilst also looking to bring others into play.
A free-kick for the Gas then created a flurry of chances. Tommy Leigh's low, right-footed strike forced the shot-stopper into a sharp save down to his left before Forde's powerful rebound. Dundee could not clear their lines, with Aitchison then seeing his strike blocked.
Brad Young was looking to go long almost every time he gained possession, with Quigley the target. The striker did well to flick the ball on just beyond the half-hour mark, with the goalkeeper able to collect moments before Forde could get there.
Rovers' momentum began to suffocate Dundee, winning possession high up the pitch and gaining the lead. Quigley was at the heart of everything in the first half, and he chested the ball down to Aitchison, who drilled his effort into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.
Confidence was high. Nobody went to close down Clinton Mola, with the former Chelsea man having a go from range, but the goalkeeper pushed his dipping shot over. Another Quigley flick-on caused chaos at a corner, with the ball dropping to Forde, who smashed it in from close range.
Dundee came out with more intensity in the second half, with a defender looking to get his team back into the game with a moment of magic. The right-back looked to find the top corner from range, narrowly missing the target.
Instead, the Gas could have added a third. Forde's perfect cross from the right found Leigh, who had his close-range attempt pushed away before Purrington thumped the post with the rebound.
Leigh then drifted out to the right and whipped a cross towards Purrington, who came inside from his left-back position before turning his first-time strike over the bar.
Rovers made eight changes with 20 minutes left to play, with fresh faces causing fresh chances. Bobby Kamwa got down the right, flicking the ball over a defender before finding Fabrizio Cavegn, whose shot deflected wide.
However, it was not long until the Pirates found their third to complete the victory. Sparkes whipped a corner to find Harbottle, with the defender sending his header across the goal and into the bottom corner.
Bristol Rovers: Young (Southwood 70), James (Southam-Hales, 70), Balmer (Kilgour 70), Mola, Forde (Kamwa 70), Quigley (Cavegn 70), Aitchison (De Havilland 70), Purrington (Sparkes 70), Kelly (Harbottle 70), Smallwood, Leigh
Bristol Rovers unused subs: Rijks
Goals: Aitchison, Forde, Harbottle
Referee: Nathan Crawford
Steve Evans: It's the best performance of pre-season for sure
After a quiet opening to the fixture, where chances were few and far between, the Pirates did not look back after breaking the deadlock through Aitchison's strike.
Forde and Harbottle struck either side of half-time to help the Gas to a 3-0 victory, with Rovers now only having one match left until the start of the 2026/27 campaign. For Evans, it was the Pirates' best performance of pre-season, with the Manager looking for his side to reach their peak when the competitive fixtures get underway.
"I think after the first ten minutes, it looked like a trip that we were questioning because the performance wasn't where it needed to be. Then suddenly, Smallwood does what he does. He goes and wins one or two crunching tackles, sprays the ball, and players then get confident.
"This is largely, largely experienced Dundee side. I think Steven Pressley will probably start seven, eight or nine of those players when they go to Celtic Park on Monday night. So, for us to come here and play like that with such a commanding possession performance in spells in the game, but they had spells too. It's nothing more than a step in the right direction. We will relook at it on Friday with a different lineup and different personnel, and we can freshen up next week and get really sharp when we're back at The Quarters.
"It's the best performance [of pre-season] for sure. We always know that our aim is to peak, arguably against York, but we want to be a little bit fresher and where we want to be when we play Peterborough because the Carabao Cup can be important to you. It's not our bread and butter this season; it's not in the main objectives, but we want to win because any time that Bristol Rovers play, they should want to win."
Riley Harbottle: A good workout and another win.
Harbottle came on with 20 minutes left to play against Dundee but managed to get on the scoresheet, flicking a header into the bottom corner whilst also helping the Pirates to a deserved clean sheet, with Brad Young and Luke Southwood left mostly untroubled across the 90 minutes.
With pre-season coming towards its conclusion, Harbottle was happy with another strong outing and outlined the positives in the win over Dundee, as well as pre-season overall.
"It was a good workout. All of the games have been so far. It was like all of the others, really, a good workout and another win. I thought they started really well, and I thought when the boys on the pitch worked it out, they got to grips with it, and I thought we probably dominated the second half of the first part.
"We looked comfortable, we looked dominant, and I thought Joe Quigley was a really big handful for them and we had a lot of chances, so it's positive. Jack Aitchison has been really good since coming in. He's had to wait for his first goal; hopefully he can build on that, take it into the season, and Shaq is Shaq. Hopefully, we get him performing, and we'll win games when Shaq's performing. It was really good to see.
"Pre-season has been good. It's been hard, but pre-season is always going to be hard. I think the group has been good and we're looking strong. We're getting the lads that have been injured back. So, we've got to keep building on that and take it into the season."
