Rovers looked to get back to winning ways this week when they turned their attention to the League 2 Cup, where they entertained title rivals, Garboldisham FC at The Heath.
The home side made 2 changes from the side that was beaten by Barons FC 2 weeks ago as Alistair Clark and Gary Radford made their way into the starting line up.
The visitors started the game well and bossed proceedings early on, although they rarely troubled Wayne Pottle in the home goal.
As the match progressed Rovers began to settle down and got involved in the game more and before too long looked to pose the greater threat going forward. They were rewarded for their pressure on the half hour mark when a ball into the box struck the arm of a Garby defender and the referee pointed to the spot. After seeing his shot kick saved, Tiernan Boland was given a 2nd chance from the spot as the referee was not ready for the inital kick to be taken. Boland was again thwarted by the Garby keeper who made a fine save from the retake, diving full stretch to his right to palm the ball away.
Rovers continued to shade the remainder of the 1st half but were unable to get their noses in front before the half time whistle was blown.
Once again the visitors began the half better than Rovers as the 2nd period got under way, and it was Garby who broke the deadlock on 55 minutes when a great individual run and finish saw the visitors into a 1 nil lead.
That lead only lasted 5 minutes though as Rovers pilled the pressure on in search of an equaliser. One such move saw Andrew Clarke fire home from close range after Garby were unable to clear the ball from their area.
As soon as Rovers had drawn level they found themselves behind just as quickly when a wicked deflection from a shot from just outside the area, spun the ball out of the reach of Pottle in the Rovers goal and into the far corner of the net.
Garby looked to have booked their place in the next round 10 minutes later when a clumsy challenge in the Rover's area by Tim Hodge saw the visitors awarded a penalty and saw him receive his marching orders as he collected his 2nd yellow card of the match. After yet another penalty retake, this time both successfull, Garby opened up a 2 goal cushion on their hosts.
Despite going further behind and being a man down, Rovers did not give up hope of getting back into the game and continued to pour forward as time slowly drained away.
They did receive a lifeline 5 minutes from time when Tiernan Boland was brought down in the Garby area and Micky Cross made no mistake from the resulting spot kick to notch up his 22nd goal of the campaign.
The home side were eventually beaten by the clock several minutes later, as their visitors booked themselves a semi-final appearance against Black Eagles FC.
The defeat puts Rovers on a 3 match losing streak which they must bring to an end if they want to claim the League 2 title.
