Reece James scored a brace to help beat Swindon Town and get Rovers’ third win on the bounce.
As the busy festive period is now underway for Rovers, Moore rotated his side with Cameron John and Taylor Richards dropping to the bench while Danny Amos and James Coppinger returned to the starting XI in their place.
Swindon imposed themselves on Rovers early in the game with Jack Payne testing Joe Lumley, but it was an easy save for the QPR loanee. Pressure continued from the visitors, but Rovers were happy to soak up the pressure through calm defending.
The first attempt on goal for Rovers came on the 17th minute with Ben Whiteman being teed up from just outside the box where he struck off target. A minute later and James Coppinger forced a save out of Matej Kovar from a similar position after a free kick was won by Reece James.
Rovers’ tight defending forced Swindon into taking shots out of frustration from distance which included Jack Payne trying his luck from 30 yards on the 27th minute.
John Sheridan’s side should have taken the lead with an unmarked Johnny Smith spooning the ball over goal from close range.
The game came to life for Rovers in the latter minutes of the first-half with a sensational shot from Danny Amos required an equally spectacular save by Kovar to brutally deny Rovers from taking the lead. This was followed up with a shot from close range by Coppinger, but it was not meant to be and the game remained level at the break.
It was a dream start to the second-half for Rovers with James getting his second goal in as many games when he found the top right corner of Kovar’s goal from inside the box.
Josh Sims’ night was cut short after pulling his hamstring but that meant that Jon Taylor could get another run out after recovering from his injury. Taylor Richards also came on at the same point, replacing Coppinger.
Jon Taylor got involved in play quickly, hitting Swindon on the counter-attack. Tyreece John-Jules wasn’t able to capitalise on the wingers’ ball through as his shot was denied by Kovar.
Swindon came close to equalising as Johnny Smith’s low ball was met by Diallang Jaiyseimi who tapped the ball goal wards from close range but a quick reaction from Lumley meant he was able to save.
The two Taylor’s put on a good show with Jon feeding the ball through to Richards whose shot was inches over the crossbar.
James got his and Rovers’ second of the night after beating Kovar one-on-one following a brilliant ball was played through by Whiteman.
Former Rovers loanee Tyler Smith was introduced to the game by Sheridan and he went on to almost score a tap in on the 84th minute but Lumley was on hand again to turn away.
Swindon snatched a goal back in the last kick of the game as Jaiyesimi beat Lumley from the penalty spot for a mere consolation for the visitors.