Steve Evans singing with supporters as Bristol Rovers end home run with big win | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers manager Steve Evans revealed he sang his heart out among the club’s supporters as he celebrated a 4-0 win over Cheltenham at the Memorial Stadium.

Evans swapped the touchline for the Thatchers End towards the end of the West Country derby with his team well on their way to an eighth straight victory thanks to an Ellis Harrison hat-trick.

The Scot, who had only just found his place among Gasheads when Shaq Forde completed the rout and he was soon leading the celebrations among the sell-out 11,126-strong crowd.

Evans, who took over from Darrell Clarke in December when the club flirted with relegation, said: “I made my way into the Thatcher’s End, which is a bit crazy but just magical and of course when I’m in there, Shaq scores.

“I just lifted my head and saw a cross come in and saw Shaq appear and then I saw the ball hit the net and then I saw people go crazy or rather I felt people go crazy, they’re all over me.

“And somehow Shay sees me and he’s trying to get in, and the players are and they’re absolutely incredible moments and then we have a lap of appreciation which was just amazing as well.”

He added: “I’ve always wanted to do it. I was wanting to do it when I was at Rotherham United, but we had to go to the last day and get out of League Two to beat Aldershot and it went to the whistle.

“And then of course I had to go to Wembley the following year to go up into the Championship, so there was no time to do that.

“But we all know that when the third goal was in today, it was going to be a question of if we win five or six. We weren’t at our best, but we were still men against boys at times.

“I’m sure you’ll see the footage but I was singing away and I tried to get some chants about my assistant Paul Rayner’s weight programme, but nobody joined in.

“In all seriousness, it was a pleasure and an absolute privilege for me to join those people.

“I met our chairman and said it’s a magical day he quipped that if he was Donald Trump he’d extend the season.

Cheltenham manager Steve Cotterill insisted that defeat was undeserved.

“We’ve probably run out of legs,” Cotterill said. “The lads’ minds are willing but their bodies just can’t carry them now. We’ve just had that real run of games, a game in the week, played like we can play but we can’t maintain it.

“We’ve gone in at half-time 2-0 down, we’re the better team and at times in the second half we’re still the better team and we’ve ended up losing the game 4-0.

“It’s funny because when I was here first time round, we ended up getting beat by Hull City once up at Hull. We got beat 5-1 by them and we were the better team. And we’ve just had that scenario today. Never a 4-0, is it, on the balance of play?”