Cheltenham Town and Bristol Rovers failed to serve up the spectacle that the occasion demanded as the teams met in the first ever local derby meeting.
The Robins were also celebrating the opening of their new 2,000 seater Wymans Road stand but there was precious little goalmouth action to excite the club's largest home crowd of the season.
Cheltenham fielded the same side for the eighth consecutive League game with those players who took part in the 5-1 defeat at Hull City on Saturday given a chance to put that result behind them.
Rovers, on the other hand, made a series of changes in the hope of finding a winning formula after eight games without success.
It was a fast and frantic opening to the game with Rovers flooding the midfield with players and relying on the pace of strikers Kevin Gall and Alvin Bubb to create openings.
Gall had the first chances of the game, the first drifting well wide and the second held by Steve Book, and it was another break the former Newcastle man that gave David Hillier an opportunity which he placed wide.
Cheltenham had their first chance when a strong run by Neil Howarth was halted on the edge of the box by a Dwayne Plummer foul.
Russell Milton brushed the crossbar with the free-kick from 18 yards but Rovers almost took the lead with an almost immediate break.
Diminutive striker Bubb somehow won a header against Chris Banks to leave Gall clean through. He elected to shoot early with a lob that beat Book but landed wide of goal.
Tony Naylor was his usual busy self, working hard to find space in a packed Rovers defence, and he forced visiting goalkeeper Scott Howie to make a sharp save on the half-hour.
The ball rebounded off Howie to Naylor but his follow-up shot was blocked by giant centre-half Mark Foran.
There was plenty of huff and puff from both sides but little open football and there was a growing feeling that if a goal was going to come it would result from a mistake.
That almost happened eight minutes before half-time when Book rushed outside his area to clear his lines but the ball ran straight along the ground into midfield. Former Cheltenham trialist Che Wilson arrived ahead of anyone else to try impudent first time shot that rolled only a couple of feet wide of the target.
There had been too many errors and too much slack passing in the first half and matters were summed up by an incident two minutes before the break.
Trevor Challis launched a long ball forward, Michael Duff got his header all wrong to leave Gall clean through on goal but his first touch was poor and the chance went begging.
The second half began in much the same fashion until Rovers came within an inch of taking the lead five minutes after the break. Dwayne Plummer helped a throw-in from Trevor Challis into the path of Gall and his instinctive lob shot came back off the crossbar.
Howie blocked a low drive by former Rovers player Julian Alsop with his legs but the second half was woefully short of scoring chances.
Cheltenham did more of the attacking but they were held back by a committed Rovers defence and despite forcing a series of corners Howie was rarely called into action.
Mark Yates headed over the bar from a Howarth cross and veteran striker Neil Grayson replaced Naylor for the last 10 minutes as Cheltenham tried to find some leverage in a game that was becoming locked tight all over the pitch.
Rovers also made two changes, introducing on-loan Stockport striker Neil Ross and Latvian international Vitalijs Astafjevs for Bubb and Plummer, but they could make little impression in the closing five minutes.
CHELTENHAM TOWN: Book; Howarth, M. Duff, Banks, Victory; Williams, Yates, Howells, Milton; Alsop, Naylor (Grayson 79). Subs: Brough, McAuley, Devaney, Muggleton.
BRISTOL ROVERS: Howie; Foran, Foster, Trought; Wilson, Hillier, Thomson, Plummer (Astafjevs 85), Challis; Bubb (Ross 85), Gall. Subs: Clarke, Cameron, Hogg.
REFEREE: P.A. Durkin (Dorset)
ATTENDANCE: 4,913