Bristol Rovers clambered out of the bottom four of League 1 with a hard fought win over AFC Bournemouth.
Jeff Hughes scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after Gavin Williams was brought down. Despite hitting the crossbar Rovers had to soak up a great deal of pressure during the second half, including clearing one Cherries effort off their line but their defence held firm to take three points that mean so much.
There was one change to the Rovers starting line up, weekend goalscorer Gavin Williams coming in for Harry Pell. Lee Bradbury also tinkered with his team, Stephen Purches starting at left back in place of Rhoys Wiggins with veteran Steve Fletcher starting in place of Manchester City loanee Donal McDermott.
The Cherries looked dangerous from the off, winger Marc Pugh being the first player to have a great chance of scoring, shooting straight at Conrad Logan's legs.
A Bournemouth corner straight from the training pitch in front of the Blackthorn End was sent in low and hard, central defender Jason Pearce running across the area and firing wide.
Steve Fletcher was a thorn in Rovers side throughout and it was his knockdown to Ings that had the home defence scrambling, but thankfully for the Gas he was unable to find his range, his shot flying high over the crossbar.
Logan was again called into action soon after, Danny Ings played through with a ball over the top but Logan rushed off his line and stayed big, the young strikers shot thumping back off of the Irish keepers chest.
Bournemouth continued to come forward in waves, a cross from Marc Pugh on the left wing found the head of Fletcher who forced Logan into a fine diving save.
Will Hoskins had to have physio Phil Kite come onto the field to look at a possible ankle injury but bravely battled on. It was, however, to be too much for the Rovers top scorer who broke down in front of the home dugout, eventually being replaced by winger Reggie Lambe, a move which saw Rovers play with a five man midfield, Williams sat just behind lone striker Jo Kuffour.
It was former Arsenal trainee Kuffour who slashed wide before the key moment of the match arrived. Jeff Hughes broke away down the left and his ball into the box was not properly cleared and fell for Gavin Williams who nudged the ball on, only to see his run abruptly stopped by the sliding challenge of Adam Smith. Referee Graham Salisbury gave the spot kick and Jeff Hughes stepped up to the plate, sending Shwan Jalal the wrong way to score his eleventh goal of the season and open the scoring.
The second half kicked off with the visitors taking the ball towards the Rovers area but it was Chris Lines who broke away, running from the halfway line to within six yards of the byline in the penalty area, his shot deflecting wide for a corner.
The closest Bournemouth came to an equaliser was from captain Danny Hollands whose volley from two yards within the area was cleared off of the line by the head of James Tunnicliffe who put in another commanding performance at the heart of the Rovers defence.
Rovers came so close to doubling their lead through Lines, the midfielder driving a free kick from thirty yards against Jalal's crossbar, the Iraqi keeper rooted to the spot as he watched the effort sail goalwards before bouncing away off the woodwork.
Anton Robinson dragged two shots wide and Ings had Conrad Logan flinging himself to his right before Jeff Hughes forced Jalal into a stop, holding onto the ball well as he fell to one side.
Donal McDermott came on as a late Bournemouth sub and looked confident from the off, twice cutting inside Danny Senda, the right back having an otherwise fine game, but firing his shots at Logan who turned the ball behind each time.
There was to be no way through for the away side, though, and as the final whistle went the loudest cheer heard in the Memorial Stadium this season erupted and chants of 'Goodnight Irene' and 'we are staying up' reverberated around pillars and posts on all four sides of the ground, Rovers had pulled themselves out of the bottom four for the first time since November.
After the game Rovers player-manager Stuart Campbell spoke of the pride he had in his squad for hanging on to take the points:
"I am immensely proud of the players. The effort, determination, commitment and desire was all there in abundance. It was clear for everyone to see how much the game meant for everyone tonight.
"Defensively from front to back they were phenomenal, and you could not single anyone of them out. They were all unbelievable, and they all put their bodies on the line.
"People put their bodies on the line, which is brilliant that we know they are doing that for the cause. The intensity of the performance was unbelievable, so we will try and look after everyone to make sure that come Saturday at 3pm everyone is 100% and raring to go."
Bournemouth boss Lee Bradbury was not so pleased with the result despite the way his side applied themselves throughout, saying:
"We dominated for long spells and they only had one shot on target other than the penalty. I thought the lads did well and created a lot of chances. After Rovers went 1-0 up, they sat back and tried to guard it and that's fair play to them.
"It was one of those nights when it just didn't drop for us. They defended for their lives and were buzzing at the end with the result and that speaks volumes with the way we played.
"I thought we applied ourselves very well and created a lot of chances and on another day, if we were a bit more clinical, we would have won comfortably.
"The performance was there and we pinned back a home side for long spells and in fact we looked more like the home team and the simple fact is that we should have won."
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