Rovers U18s made it back-to-back wins in the EFL Youth Alliance League with victory on the road at Lincoln City.
Talisman Jack Goodman bagged a brace before Faris Khan turned in a late winner to give his side success in their third meeting of the season with the Imps.
The result saw Rovers take consecutive victories against top of the league opposition having beat Grimsby Town at Cantley Park in their previous game.
The hosts got the game underway and the majority of the early pressure came through their attack as, just minutes in, they broke through one-on-one with Jake Oram to take aim but the shot-stopper got a strong hand on the ball and pushed it away from danger.
Lincoln’s attacks would be the theme of the opening 10 minutes with another great chance coming their way through their attacker but his header could only be glanced wide of the far post as the deadlock remained.
From that moment on, Rovers grew into the game with it breaking into an end-to-end affair with the hosts having more chances and Will Green having the best for the visitors but was judged offside before the deadlock was broken on the 26th minute.
A great ball from Green played Goodman in, only to be tagged from behind inside the box for the referee to point straight to the spot to give the first penalty of the game and Rovers’ top scorer stepped up, sent the ‘keeper to the right and placed the ball into the left to give his side the lead.
However, just three minutes later, the referee would penalise Jak Whiting for a foul just inside the box and gave the second penalty, this time in the Imps’ favour for Julian Donnery to just squeeze the ball past Oram and equalise.
Both sides then again had chances to score with the hosts putting efforts over and wide, and Tom Parkinson forced a save from the opposition goalkeeper as Rovers entered the break level.
Parkinson then came even closer to scoring once the game had resumed as he smashed a shot at goal, only to see a defender throw himself at the ball with a great diving header to clear off the line.
Rovers then made changes over the next 15 minutes with Freddie Allen first replacing Whiting and then Faris Khan took the place of Owen Scattergood with the game hanging in the balance.
The hosts had a flurry of chances on the counter attack, however the second breakthrough of the game came the way of the visitors.
Some superb link up on the front foot between Khan and Green allowed the latter to once again play the ball into Goodman who was able to cut inside, set himself and fire into the back of the net to bag his second goal of the fixture and put Rovers in the lead again.
The goal advantage would be short lived again though as the hosts managed to make the most of a set piece scramble in the box and turned the ball into the goal to equalise with just 10 minutes left on the clock.
In search of another goal to take the lead once more, Frank Sinclair made his third change this time bringing on Justin Bennett for Will Green and it wasn’t long before Rovers found what they were looking for.
The latest substitute Bennett played a smart flick-on down the right wing to Josh Lindley who carried into the box and pulled the ball back into Khan on the penalty spot to place into the bottom left corner and give the visitors the lead for a third time with just minutes left to play.
Chris Pooley came on for Alex Fletcher in the youth team’s last substitution of the game for the final knockings and, despite Lincoln’s best efforts, the visitors saw out the last few minutes to take the three points and close the gap to first place in the EFL Youth Alliance League.