Ipswich Town had to come from behind to beat Rovers in the opening game of the 2012–13 season, which was a first round match in the League Cup.
Michael Smith's early goal for The Gas was cancelled out by Jason Scotland five minutes before the break. Eleven minutes into the second half, shortly after Michael Chopra saw his penalty kick saved by debutant goalkeeper Sam Walker, Tommy Smith headed the ball into the net to give Ipswich the lead. The scoring was rounded off six minutes from time when Aaron Cresswell put the result beyond doubt and enabled The Tractor Boys to progress to the second round of the competition.
The game saw club debuts for the aforementioned Walker, as well as David Clarkson and Seanan Clucas, while defender Michael Smith scored his first goal in English football and former Rovers player Nathan Ellington was included on the Ipswich bench.
Match details[]
|
Ipswich Town | 3–1 | Bristol Rovers | 
|
| Scotland (40) T. Smith (56) Cresswell (84) |
(1–1 HT) | M. Smith (26) | ||
| Venue: Portman Road – KO: 14 August 2012 @ 1945 | ||||
| Attendance: 8,645 – Referee: Fred Graham | ||||
| Lineups | ||||
| 1 Scott Loach | 28 Sam Walker | |||
 3 Aaron Cresswell |
2 Michael Smith |
|||
| 4 Luke Chambers | 19 Adam Virgo | |||
| 7 Carlos Edwards | 14 Lee Brown | |||
| 20 Tommy Smith |
17 Jim Paterson | |||
| 9 Jay Emmanuel-Thomas | 16 Joe Anyinsah  |
|||
| 11 Lee Martin |
8 Matt Gill |
|||
| 15 Massimo Luongo | 15 Oliver Norburn |
|||
| 19 Luke Hyam | 21 Wayne Brown | |||
 10 Michael Chopra |
7 David Clarkson | |||
| 14 Jason Scotland |
9 Matt Harrold | |||
| Substitutes | ||||
| 12 Arran Lee-Barrett (GK) | 20 Connor Gough (GK) | |||
 16 Ryan Stevenson |
18 Mitch Harding | |||
| 18 Nathan Ellington | 22 Ross Staley | |||
| 29 Jack Ainsley | 24 Ollie Clarke |
|||
| 30 Joe Whight | 25 Seanan Clucas |
|||
| 31 Byron Lawrence | 26 Matthew Lund |
|||
| 32 Cormac Burke |
||||
Timeline[]
26 mins: Goal for Bristol Rovers scored by Michael Smith- 40 mins: Goal for Ipswich scored by Jason Scotland
- 55 mins: Penalty kick by Michael Chopra saved by Sam Walker, awarded for a foul on Luke Hyam by Adam Virgo
- 56 mins: Goal for Ipswich scored by Tommy Smith
- 61 mins: Matthew Lund replaced Matt Gill
- 63 mins: Seanan Clucas replaced Oliver Norburn
- 79 mins: Ollie Clarke replaced Joe Anyinsah
- 84 mins: Goal for Ipswich scored by Aaron Cresswell
- 88 mins: Ryan Stevenson and Cormac Burke replaced Jason Scotland and Lee Martin
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||