Cheltenham Town found themselves on the receiving end of an impressive performance from Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium this afternoon.
Rovers scored twice but would have had more were it not for some good defending and goalkeeping added to some wasteful finishing from the home side.
Doncaster have made a stuttering start to the season but they showed in this game just why many people, including Robins boss John Ward, have tipped them to do well this season.
The Robins battled for 90 minutes and enjoyed a good spell at the start of the second half but for the first time this season they came up against a side simply too good for them on the day.
The Cheltenham team displayed one change to the side that drew 1-1 with Tranmere Rovers last week. On loan forward Jennison Myrie-Williams returned to the starting line-up in place of Paul Connor, who moved to the substitutes' bench.
Myrie-Williams started out on the left-hand side of midfield with Ashley Vincent pushed up front alongside Damian Spencer.
Central defender Shane Duff trained on Friday but not without discomfort from the calf injury that has kept him out of the last two matches so he did not travel to Yorkshire.
The game began at a fast pace with the home side displaying plenty of inventive movement from their midfielders and forwards.
Doncaster started with three players in attack but the two wide men would regularly drop back into midfield looking for the ball and giving other players a chance to push forward from deeper positions.
Midfielder Brian Stock saw a volley held by Shane Higgs and defender Adam Lockwood headed across the face of goal from a corner taken by Stock during a frenetic opening 10 minutes.
Higgs then fell upon a 20-yard shot from Mark Wilson but Cheltenham had their first chance a quarter of an hour into the game when a long throw from Lee Ridley found Vincent in the box.
Vincent's flick header looped over former Spurs goalkeeper Neil Sullivan but left-back Gareth Roberts was on hand to head it behind for a corner.
Cheltenham, however, were being asked plenty of questions by a Doncaster side clearly fired up to avenge the memory of last season's match at the Keepmoat Stadium, which the Robins won 2-0.
And Rovers got their noses in front with a clever piece of play in the 18th minute.
James Hayter knocked a diagonal pass towards the edge of the area and Lewis Guy, making a run in from the left, anticipated it perfectly. Guy took the ball wide of Higgs before rolling it into the net from a tight angle.
Higgs got down to block shots from both Guy and Hayter as Cheltenham battled to get through a difficult first 30 minutes.
David Bird provided some respite with a 50 yard break down the middle of the pitch followed by a shot that flew wide of goal; then Gavin Caines forced Sullivan to push the ball over the bar after the big defender met an Andy Lindegaard free-kick with a firm header.
Cheltenham enjoyed more productivity going forward after switching Lindegaard and Myrie-Williams over to opposite sides.
Myrie-Williams began to see more of the ball and one strong run from him ended with a pass to John Finnigan, who lifted a shot from distance over the crossbar.
Cheltenham made a much better start to the second half, winning a series of corners and managing to get the ball into the front men with more regularity.
It forced Doncaster onto the back foot for the first sustained period in the game but the Robins were not able to make their brief superiority count and paid for it 12 minutes after the re-start.
Stock delivered a corner from the right and Matthew Mills, a young defender on loan from Manchester City, made a late run into the box undetected. Mills met the ball with a diving header that flew past Higgs to make it 2-0.
Higgs denied Heffernan with a reflex save after Mark Wilson had put the striker through on goal then Vincent cleared a shot from the same player off the line as Rovers re-discovered their attacking instincts.
Hayter then shot wide twice and John Ward moved to stem the tide by making a double substitution with 20 minutes left.
Andy Gallinagh replaced Ridley at left-back and Paul Connor went on for Lindegaard. Vincent and Myrie-Williams took up the wide midfield positions with Connor partnering Spencer at the front.
Cheltenham pressed forward with their new shape but it left gaps at the back and Heffernan should have scored with 15 minutes left when the impressive Stock put him through but the former Bristol City man could not keep his shot down.
Spencer headed wide from a good cross by Bird but Cheltenham's attacks were sporadic and failed to give the impression that they would find a goal to set up a tense finish.
With seven minutes to go Connor did well to reach a long throw from Bird with an overhead kick from 12 yards but the ball bounced back off the crossbar and, deep into injury time, Spencer met another cross from Bird with a firm header but Sullivan was comfortably behind it.
DONCASTER ROVERS (4-3-3): Sullivan; O'Connor, Mills, Lockwood, G.Roberts (McDaid 46); Wilson, Stock (S.Roberts 83), Wellens; Hayter, Heffernan, Guy (Green 78). Subs not used: Coppinger, Price
CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Higgs; J.Gill, Townsend, Caines, Ridley (Gallinagh 69); Lindegaard (Connor 69), Finnigan (Connolly 78), Bird, Myrie-Williams; Vincent, Spencer. Subs not used: Brown (Gk), Yao
REFEREE: S.W.Mathieson (Cheshire)
ATTENDANCE: 6,150