Bristol Rovers 2 Leyton Orient 1 - Archive

Rory Gaffney's brace kept Rovers in the promotion hunt and dented Orient's play-off hopes.

Striker Gaffney opened the scoring in the 31st minute with his second goal since joining Rovers on a one month loan from Cambridge.

Gaffney was fed by central defender Tom Parkes before tip-toeing his way past three defenders and blasting the ball past helpless keeper Alex Cisak from seven yards as Rovers dominated play.

But Orient hot shot Jay Simpson stunned the home faithful seconds before the break when he tapped in a low cross from winger Blair Turgott for his eighteenth goal of the season.

Gaffney grabbed a classy winner in the 53rd minute.

Full back Lee Brown fed the ball into the area and Gaffney hit a superb low first time shot from just inside the box to leave Cisak with no chance and claim his fifth goal of the campaign for both clubs.

Gaffney is due to return to the Abbey Stadium next Sunday, but Rovers boss Darrell Clarke revealed he has spoken to Cambridge about keeping him. He said:

"I know he's enjoying his football and we want him to stay, but we'll have to see what happens in January. We've had initial talks."

Rovers nearly took the lead in only the third minute, but Cisak did well to turn striker Jermaine Easter's fourteen yard shot from an acute angle over his bar.

And Gaffney could have claimed a hat trick in the 68th minute, but for once Cisak got the better of him and saved an angled shot with his feet.

Orient manager Ian Hendon said:

"For the first goal three of our defenders dived in, sold themselves and made the lad look like Lionel Messi.

"I thought there were two evenly matched teams and only a great finish separated them."