Yate Town assistant manager John Lester admitted Bristol Rovers were ‘a class above’ after they were thumped 10-1 by the League One outfit in a pre-season friendly at Lodge Road.

Despite a competitive first half which ended 3-1 to the visitors and saw Olly Mehew miss a penalty, Graham Coughlan’s Rovers scored seven second half goals as their superior fitness and quality came to the fore.

Lester, who stood in for boss Paul Britton who is currently on holiday, was pleased with Yate’s first half performance but was also impressed with Rovers’ display in the second half and felt their ability to make wholesale changes had an impact.

“They’re a class above us,” said Lester.

“Second half they were different class. 3-1 down at half time, we were in the game.

“I thought we played well first half, it could have been 3-2 with the penalty.

“Second half they’ve made 10 changes and we haven’t made any.

“They’ve scored an early goal and that set the tone for them but their movement in the second half was different class.

“The result doesn’t matter, it’s all about match fitness and getting ready for the start of the season.”

The game saw three new signings make their debut. Keeper Adam Forster and striker Jake Lee both started while Liam Monelle came on from the bench.

Lester was pleased with their performances and says the club are happy with the business they’ve done so far but he didn’t want to rule out further additions.

“You’re always interested in players but we’re happy with what we’ve got and if anyone comes available you never know,” admitted Lester.

“Jake Lee came in today, played up front and I thought he was excellent and the keeper, how many shots did he have to save second half? He’s a good acquisition to the side.”

The Bluebells turn their attention to their next friendly against Forest Green Rovers on Wednesday, July 17 and Lester is relishing the chance to get the lads back on the training pitch and will try and take some positives from the heavy defeat to the Pirates.

“We’ve just got to take the positives out of the first half. We’ve had lads come on in the second half that I haven’t seen play before, and they’ve come on a gave it a good go.

“We train Tuesday and Thursday so we’ve got three training sessions before the Forest Green game but that’ll be tough again.”