The spoils were shared on a derby day of torrential rain and missed chances, as Swindon were left frustrated by not making the most of their early opportunities.

The home team came back into the game and ended with more shots, although few truly troubled Connor Ripley, with eight coming from outside the area, and Swindon won the open-play xG battle 1.75-1.10.

However, it was an incident in the final seconds of the game that had Evans vexed, as a Bristol Rovers free kick was stopped in its tracks as James Debayo went over under minimal pressure from Kofi Balmer.

The whistle went right away, and so even though Joe Quigley did head home, nobody was moving in the penalty box, and none of the crowd even celebrated.

However, Evans was seething in his post-match interview, believing that his side had been denied a clear goal and, ultimately, the win.

Speaking to Bristol Live, he said: "I wouldn't take a point.

"Right on time [at the end of the game], and I've looked at it back because I didn't know at the time, but I've looked at it back. There's simply no foul when the ball ends up in the net. There is no foul.

"And the referee is an experienced referee, but I'm thinking he's looking at the clock. He's 20 seconds over the time he's allocated, and he's thinking no one's going to score, so everyone will go away happy, but I'll go and see him. We're not happy.

"It's one of the last five games, horrendous decision, apologies, emails. Mike Jones, EFL head of referees, phoning me up. Howard Webb phoning me up.

Ian Holloway and Steve Evans embrace after the final whistle (Image: Andy Crook)

"The referee arrives at the stadium this morning, talking about decisions that he's watched because they look at them as a group, and he's shaking his head. Well, he's now part of that group for this weekend. He's going to be looking at one."

Overall, Evans felt that his side weathered the early storm from Swindon before getting on top in the game.

He said: “I think arguably we could be one or two down in the first ten minutes. I think that's part of the conditions and partly the way that Swindon set up with three number tens.

“I thought then we came into the game, and we controlled large aspects of the game.”