Ben Stevenson earns manager praise after Cheltenham edge Bristol Rovers

Steve Cotterill hailed midfield hero Ben Stevenson after Cheltenham’s 1-0 League Two home win over Bristol Rovers lifted them out of the bottom two.

Jonathan Tomkinson’s first senior goal was enough to condemn Rovers to a seventh-successive defeat and earn the Robins the derby spoils.

Stevenson was only passed fit shortly before the game after suffering a nasty gash on his shin during last week’s defeat at Tranmere, but he battled on with an outstanding display in the middle of the pitch.

“Ben was absolutely magnificent and I thought he was the best player on the pitch,” Cotterill said.

“I said to him ‘we need to keep those stitches in mate’ and he also borrowed George Miller’s shin pads, so I said he won’t be giving them back for a couple of weeks.

“He also got a whack in the face during the game, but that’ll toughen him up – he’ll be all right.

“Rovers have a really good squad and I don’t think I’d be unfair saying their squad is stronger than ours so it’s a fantastic win for us in a tricky game. The clean sheet was huge for us.”

Former Norwich defender Tomkinson met Jordan Thomas’ corner from the right at the far post and slotted the ball low past Luke Southwood in the 70th minute.

It was enough to settle a West Country derby low on quality, but high on endeavour as under-pressure Gas boss Darrell Clarke endured an unhappy return to his former club.

Clarke’s side started strongly, with Ellis Harrison volleying over the crossbar in the 16th minute.

Fabrizio Cavegn was denied by a fine Joe Day save in the 23rd minute after a mistake from Tommy Taylor as Rovers threatened again.

Cheltenham’s only meaningful effort in the first half was a shot from Ryan Broom that cleared the crossbar after a short corner routine.

Cavegn headed Macauley Southam-Hales’ cross over just before the break, while Joel Cotterill saw an effort deflected wide for the away team in the 68th minute before Cheltenham broke the deadlock with the only goal.

Rovers boss Clarke admitted times were tough, but he vowed to battle on in a bid to turn around his side’s fortunes.

“We’ve spoken about doing the basics well and the things you need to do well to get points out of games, then we don’t do our job from a set piece and they score,” Clarke said.

“We huffed and puffed again and they didn’t really pose any threat, but we didn’t have enough quality to break them down on a more consistent basis, then we switched off, which is the way it’s going at the minute. It’s a tough old slog.

“I’ll keep fighting and it’s a really negative place at the minute, rightly so with the results we’ve been having, but I have to keep a siege mentality within the players, but also keep smashing that softness out of them.

“One soft moment cost us the points again today.”