Conor Chaplin and Lee Evans were on target as Town comfortably beat nine-man Bristol Rovers 2-0 at Portman Road to stay top of League One. Chaplin, now the division's top scorer, hit his sixth of the season on 24 in a brilliant Blues spell in the first half, then Evans added the second 10 minutes after the restart with the Pirates having Bobby Thomas and Alfie Kilgour dismissed in the latter stages.
Conor Chaplin’s sixth goal of the season has given Town a 1-0 lead over Bristol Rovers at half-time at Portman Road.
Town boss Kieran McKenna made two changes with Chaplin and Freddie Ladapo back in starting XI and Tyreece John-Jules and Kayden Jackson dropping to the bench having been in the side which began the Blues’ last match, the 2-0 win at Accrington Stanley just over a week ago.
Rovers made three changes from the team which drew 2-2 at home to Morecambe in their last game with Trevor Clarke, Luke McCormick, making his second league debut for the club, and Harry Anderson coming in for John Marquis and Paul Coutts, who were on the bench, and Ryan Loft, who was left out of the 18.
There was a change of referee with Alan Young from Cambridgeshire taking over from Tom Nield, who was originally down to cover the fixture.
Young was best known to Town fans for his performance in the 0-0 home draw with Wycombe Wanderers in November 2019 when a Luke Chambers header was diverted into his own net by Chairboys midfielder Curtis Thompson but Young wrongly disallowed it for offside having consulted linesman Aaron Farmer, with the players already lined-up for the restart.
In the warm-up, Town wore shirts bearing the number 11 and the logo of the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation in support of legendary former striker Marcus Stewart, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last week, while Rovers were in similar shirts with a number 14.
Following a minute’s silence and the national anthem in honour of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, the game got under way with Town immediately on the attack, left wing-back Leif Davis winning a free-kick within the opening 15 seconds.
Lee Evans sent over a brilliant set piece to the far post from where Luke Woolfenden headed onto the underside of the bar with the ball bouncing down the wrong side of the line from a Town perspective and the Gas cleared.
In the fourth minute, the Blues were caught or almost caught in possession on a number of occasions close in and around their area but eventually Cameron Burgess cleared long and sent Ladapo away down the left.
The striker burst towards the box, cut in and hit a shot which Pirates keeper James Belshaw tipped wide down to his right. Wes Burns was first to the rebound at a tight angle and cut across goal to Chaplin, but the forward was at a similarly acute angle and was unable to find the target.
As the clock ticked past the 11-minute mark, both sets of fans erupted into applause and songs in tribute to Stewart, who wore the number 11 while playing for the Blues in the Premier League.
On the quarter hour, skipper Sam Morsy was shown the game’s first yellow card for a foul on McCormick just inside the Blues’ half.
Rovers were forced into a change in the 17th minute when Anderson, who had undergone treatment earlier in the half, was replaced by Harvey Saunders as Town prepared to take a corner on the right.
From the flag-kick, the ball was played to Davis not far outside the area from where the former Leeds man struck a shot which deflected over off a defender. From the resultant corner, also on the right, Chaplin’s header was saved down to his left by Belshaw.
Town won another corner in the 19th minute, this time on the left, the ball reaching Chaplin beyond the far post from where he hit a shot on the turn, which Belshaw again saved down to his left.
The Blues chances kept coming as they passed the ball around slickly and at pace with Rovers chasing shadows, and within a minute Davis had broken away down the left and crossed for Ladapo, whose near-post shot went wide.
A Town goal was only a matter of time and it finally came in the 24th minute. Skipper Morsy exchanged passes with Marcus Harness on the left and then cut back to Chaplin on the penalty spot, from where the former Portsmouth forward buried it low into the bottom corner to Belshaw’s left to claim his sixth goal of the season.
The Blues immediately went about looking for a second. Ladapo was again sent away in the left channel - clearly an area which had been spotted as a Pirates weakness - and sent over a deep cross for Burns, who out-battled his man for the ball and forced Belshaw into yet another save in what had been a busy half for the visitors’ number one.
Town continued to dominate, playing as well as they have all season and at what seemed an increased tempo in the opposition half. On 28 Chaplin hit a further effort following another slick passage of play which Belshaw claimed.
Harness almost played in Chaplin with a clever pass as the game reached the half-hour mark, the Blues having been in complete control and playing as well as they have in years.
The ball was briefly in the Rovers half as the game moved towards the final 10 minutes of the half but without Christian Walton’s goal being threatened.
But soon the Blues were back prodding and probing and looking for openings at the other end. On 40 a Burns cross from the right was cut out, then a subsequent effort was too close to Belshaw, who claimed.
As the half moved into four minutes of injury time, Rovers almost levelled out of nothing. After a swift break, the ball fell to Antony Evans 30 yards out from where he struck a powerful shot which beat Walton but crashed against his right post before being cleared.
It was a brilliant strike and the unlucky visitors went close again just before the whistle. Woolfenden was too casual as he chested down to Donacien on halfway and the Gas broke towards goal, Clarke hitting a low shot which Walton palmed past his left post.
Rovers will have felt themselves a little unfortunate not to have gone in on terms, which would have been an injustice given the Blues’ control and domination of most of the rest of the half.
Town had been superb in a spell before and after Chaplin’s goal, which had been well-worked down the left by Harness and Morsy, with plenty of other chances to add to their lead.
And they had almost paid for not taking more of those opportunities just before the break with Rovers twice going close, a warning that as well as they’d played, the three points were still up for grabs and they needed to maintain their earlier intensity and concentration.
However, the visitors went close again five minutes after the restart, Walton saving down to his right from Luca Hoole’s effort from just outside the box.
Two minutes later, the Gas were harshly awarded a free-kick after Harness had challenged Evans but the former Everton youngster’s strike was saved by Walton and claimed at the second attempt.
Town ought to have been awarded a penalty in the 54th minute, the ball fairly clearly hitting Sam Finley on the arm as Harness played it inside the Rovers skipper. Referee Young waved away the Blues’ protests.
Moments later, Chaplin hit a powerful shot which was blocked - also by a hand according to the crowd although not so much the players - before Town made it 2-0.
Ladapo laid the ball to Evans 25 yards out from where the Welshman smashed a low shot past Belshaw to his right. The midfielder delightedly celebrated his second goal of the season in front of the North Stand.
Town were forced into change in the 62nd minute after Burgess suffered a blow to the head, having been caught by Saunders’s knee having slid in to successfully make a challenge. Dominic Ball took over on the left of the defence.
Hoole was booked in the 66th minute for clattering into the back of Chaplin’s calves after the Blues forward had skipped away from him. Burns sent the free-kick well over the bar.
The Blues made a triple change in the 69th minute with Greg Leigh replacing Davis, John-Jules Harness and Gassan Ahadme Ladapo, the three withdrawn players receiving warm ovations as they left the field.
In the 72nd minute, Burns volleyed well over after a Leigh cross had been nodded out to him on the edge of the box.
Rovers, looking well beaten but not giving up, made a double change in the 77th minute, swapping Evans and Aaron Collins for Sylvester Jasper and Glenn Whelan.
Thomas was booked for a foul on John-Jules, then in the 82nd minute the Blues swapped Burns for Kyle Edwards.
The Pirates’ disappointing evening got even worse three minutes later when Thomas was shown his second yellow card of the evening and then a red for a foul on Ahadme.
Town continued to look for their third goal of the match against the 10 men, Morsy just overhitting a ball through to Ahadme in the 87th minute.
A minute later, Donacien did superbly to power his way past two men down the right before crossing low to the near post where Ahadme was only prevented from scoring his first Town goal by a brilliant sharp save by Belshaw, who had done well to keep Town’s tally down to two.
In the final scheduled minute, Leigh sent over a low ball from the left which was somehow diverted behind a number of Town players breaking towards the far post.
Rovers’ evening got still worse in the first of five additional minutes when Kilgour was shown a straight red card for tripping Chaplin with the Blues forward through on goal having dispossessed the centre-half.
Chaplin hit the free-kick into the wall but a minute later Leigh crossed from the left and John-Jules just failed to get enough on the ball with his header to find the target.
Town were looking like scoring another goal with every attack against the nine men but referee Young’s whistle confirmed a second successive 2-0 victory.
A thoroughly deserved win with the Blues having had chances galore to increase the margin of victory even before the visitors were reduced in number.
The spell midway through the first half around the goal was as good as anything seen at Portman Road in years, slick and at a pace rarely seen at this level.
Town, who remain top of the table on goal difference from Portsmouth, travel to face fourth-placed Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday, the Owls having won 3-0 at Morecambe this evening.
Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Burgess (Ball 62), Burns (Edwards 82), Evans, Morsy (c), Davis (Leigh 68), Chaplin, Harness (John-Jules 68), Ladapo (Ahadme 68). Unused: Hladky, Jackson.
Bristol Rovers: Belshaw, Gordon, Kilgour, Finley (c), Collins (Whelan 77), Anderson (Saunders 17), Clarke, Evans (Jasper 77), McCormick, Hoole, Thomas. Unused: Jaakola, Westbrooke, Marquis, Coutts. Referee: Alan Young (Cambridgeshire). Att: 22,209 (Rovers: 300).