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Goals from Antony Evans, Sam Nicholson and Harvey Saunders powered Bristol Rovers to a win against Carlisle to ease the pressure on Joey Barton.

A sedate opening half-hour drifted by, but the crowd was woken up 10 minutes before half-time when Evans isolated Danny Devine and darted beyond the defender before drilling a strike into the bottom corner.

Chances were few and far between for Carlisle, though Chris Beech would have wanted more from Zach Clough when James Belshaw raced off his line, but the Cumbrians forward could only find the goalkeeper's outstretched arms just after half-time.

Carlisle threatened to come back into the game with a series of corners, but a pair of substitutes combined to kill the contest with four minutes to play for Rovers.

Sub Luke Thomas sprinted beyond Devine and cut the ball across the six-yard box for fellow replacement Nicholson to turn into the bottom corner.

And a third goal came in stoppage time, with Thomas again claiming the assist, finding Saunders with a threaded through-ball and the speedy forward finished ruthlessly one-on-one with Lukas Jensen.

Report supplied by PA Media.