Rovers went down 4–0 to Port Vale in this League Two fixture, their joint biggest defeat of the season to date, following a loss to Gillingham by the same scoreline two months earlier.
Tom Pope's hat-trick not only secured a comfortable win for the Stoke-based side, but also made him the quickest Port Vale player ever to reach 20 goals in a season. The Valiants' other goal was scored by Ben Williamson towards the end of the first half, after Pope had already put them 2–0 up. Pope completed the scoring, and his hat-trick, midway through the second half.
The game marked a return to action for Matt Gill, who had spent almost two months on the sidelines injured, and also saw the first team debut of second year scholar Alefe Santos. Neil Etheridge made his final appearance for The Pirates, later receiving a call from Fulham while on the coach back to Bristol after the match informing him that he was being recalled from his loan, while Port Vale defender Clayton McDonald would return to the Memorial Stadium less than two months later as a Bristol Rovers player.
Match details[]
|
Port Vale | 4–0 | Bristol Rovers | 
|
| Pope (20, 22, 67) Williamson (35) |
(3–0 HT) | |||
| Venue: Vale Park – KO: 20 November 2012 @ 1945 | ||||
| Attendance: 4,177 – Referee: Andy Madley | ||||
| Lineups | ||||
| 1 Chris Neal | 38 Neil Etheridge | |||
| 2 Adam Yates | 2 Michael Smith | |||
| 5 John McCombe | 4 Danny Woodards  |
|||
| 14 Clayton McDonald |
6 Tom Parkes | |||
| 24 Richard Duffy | 3 Jim Paterson | |||
| 9 Jennison Myrie-Williams | 26 Matthew Lund | |||
| 21 Kingsley James | 25 Seanan Clucas |
|||
| 23 Ryan Burge |
21 Wayne Brown | |||
| 10 Ashley Vincent | 14 Lee Brown | |||
 11 Tom Pope |
11 Fabian Broghammer |
|||
| 19 Ben Williamson |
32 Tom Eaves | |||
| Substitutes | ||||
| 12 Sam Johnson (GK) | 28 Sam Walker (GK) | |||
| 3 Rob Taylor | 8 Matt Gill  |
|||
| 8 Louis Dodds | 17 Ellis Harrison | |||
| 15 Chris Shuker | 19 Adam Virgo | |||
| 17 Joe Davis |
27 Derek Riordan |
|||
| 20 Sean McAllister |
30 Tom Lockyer | |||
| 22 Ryan Lloyd |
33 Alefe Santos |
|||
Timeline[]
20 mins: Goal for Port Vale scored by Tom Pope- 22 mins: Goal for Port Vale scored by Tom Pope
- 35 mins: Goal for Port Vale scored by Ben Williamson
- 46 mins: Matt Gill replaced Danny Woodards
- 55 mins: Derek Riordan replaced Seanan Clucas
- 60 mins: Alefe Santos replaced Fabian Broghammer
- 67 mins: Goal for Port Vale scored by Tom Pope
- 68 mins: Ryan Lloyd replaced Tom Pope
- 73 mins: Sean McAllister replaced Ryan Burge
- 78 mins: Joe Davis replaced Clayton McDonald
| League Two | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | ACC | AFW | ALD | BAR | BRA | BUR | CNM | CFD | D&R | EXE | FWD | GIL | MOR | NOR | OXF | PLY | PTV | RDL | ROT | SOU | TOR | WYC | YOR | |
| Home | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | |
| Away | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–3 | A–A 0–2 |
1–4 | |
| FA Cup | Capital One Cup | Johnstone's Paint Trophy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rnd | 1 | Rnd | 1 | Rnd | 1sw | |||||||||||||||||||
| Team | SHU | Team | IPS | Team | YEO | |||||||||||||||||||
| H/A | H | H/A | A | H/A | H | |||||||||||||||||||
| Res | 1–2 | Res | 1–3 | Res | 0–3 | |||||||||||||||||||