Two goals from captain Adis Odjidja-Ofoe and Hugo Cuypers helped Gent cruise past Shamrock Rovers 3-0 at the Ghelamco Arena this evening.

Gent dominated from the off with Rovers struggling to break out from their own half due to the effective high press employed by the hosts.

Striker Hugo Cuypers went close to putting Gent ahead after three minutes when his flick on header hit the bar, catching Alan Mannus out in the process.

Indeed, it was Cuypers who got the breakthrough after nine minutes after getting on the end of a Malick Fofana flick before slotting home into the bottom left-hand corner.

Rovers continued to struggle defensively with their errors punished in the 17th minute after a defensive lapse from Dan Cleary left captain Adis Odjidja-Ofoe in acres of space to smash home a volley to make it 2-0.

The pace of the game dipped in the latter end of the first half with Rovers managing to find their footing in the possession stakes. Stephen Bradley would have been disappointed however with the lack of cutting edge in the final third.

Despite taking their foot off the pedal, it was Gent who came closest to scoring again on the stroke of halftime when Jordan Torunarigha.

Rovers made a better start to the second half and nearly got a goal back in the 52nd minute when Rory Gaffney forced an excellent save from Paul Nardi after hitting a superb volley.

The Rovers striker began to link up much more frequently with Jack Byrne who himself was inches away from scoring after his curling shot went just over the bar in the 64th.

All of their positive work was undone two minutes later when Ofoe got his second goal of the game when he nestled the ball into the right-hand corner to end the game as a contest.

Rovers to their credit kept going and created a couple of guilt-edged opportunities through Gaffney and Lee Grace.

Despite a better second half, the Airtricity league leaders were unable to break their duck as Gent eased to a 3-0 victory, leaving Stephen Bradley with plenty to ponder ahead of the trip to Molde in the next round of fixtures.