Following Saturday's defeat at North Leigh, Rovers returned to Southern League action at Hillgrounds for the first time since last October. Welwyn Garden City were the visitors, who started their season with a 1-1 draw with Thame back in Hertfordshire at the weekend.

Scott Dash made two changes to the XI who started on Saturday, with Caleb Steele and Carl Knox starting in place of Harry Stratton and Michael Hudson.

The opening twenty minutes was fairly even, both teams with opportunities in the air to open to scoring, but not testing either keeper.

Welwyn then started to have more of the ball, however Rovers were holding their shape well and limiting The Citizens to half chances. Rovers looked dangerous on the counter with Davis and Hamilton both looking to run in behind.

However, similarly to Saturday, the deadlock was broken five minutes before the break. Dan Naylor got an important interception with a slide tackle, but the ball fell into the path of Callum Taylor who lofted his shot over the advancing Carl Knox.

Whilst the U10 Pumas were having a game on the pitch at half time, Rovers were preparing a double change, one tactical and one forced. Captain Tarik Dallas suffered a late challenge to his ankle just before the break, so was replaced by Mohamed Amghar. Jack Quigley also made way, with Emmanuel Dahie coming on in place of the Rovers midfielder.

The visitors mustered a lot of chances second half, with Carl Knox pulling off a number of excellent saves.

On the hour mark, the Kempston stopper made two quickfire saves, before the ball fell to Cyrus Babaie to tap into an empty net.

Rovers were forced into their final change five minutes later, Marley Hamilton limped off and was replaced by Ayomide Akinbobola.

The game became stretched but Rovers remained resilient, keeping Welwyn at bay for the remainder of the game.

Rovers have 10 days off before their next fixture, where we face Wantage Town at Hillgrounds, followed by St Neots two days later, also at Hillgrounds. Scott Dash and his management team will look to use the time to get some training sessions in, getting the players prepared both physically and tactically for the remainder of the season.