It was a thrilling game played before a packed Whaddon Road with the action and tension building to a crescendo.
With two minutes left the score was 1-1, Cheltenham's Steven Gillespie equalising an earlier strike by Jamie Forrester.
At that point JJ Melligan got into space on the right and delivered a pinpoint cross to the far post where Kayode Odejayi directed a header at goal. Goalkeeper Scott Shearer clawed the ball back but it had already crossed the line.
Yet still there was time for Rovers to win it.
Less than a minute later, substitute Junior Agogo crossed from the left and Craig Disley planted a header beyond Shane Higgs.
Then, with two minutes of injury time played, defender John Anderson flashed a header into the corner of the net from the same position, this time the left-wing cross came from Stuart Campbell, to complete a breathtaking comeback.
At the start of the game Rovers lost their captain Craig Hinton to a head injury after only two minutes but they recovered sufficiently to take the lead 16 minutes later.
Cheltenham's Shane Duff conceded a free-kick for shirt pulling 25 yards from goal and Jamie Forrester looped an expert shot over the defensive wall and inside goalkeeper Shane Higgs' right-hand post.
By then Odejayi had missed the first of two good chances that came to him during the first half.
On both occasions the big, pacy front man did well to get through with only goalkeeper Scott Shearer to beat but sliced his first shot and blasted the second straight at the former Coventry City stopper.
At the other end, Higgs was called upon to make an impressive save from Lewis Haldane as Rovers bossed the first half possession without creating many chances.
The second half was dominated by Cheltenham and the levelled the scores on 70 minutes when Odejayi headed down a cross from Craig Armstrong and on-loan Bristol City striker Gillespie pounced.
With their 88th minute goal Cheltenham would have been forgiven for thinking they had won the game but, with five minutes of added time signalled by the fourth official, there was ample opportunity for the plot to twist again and again.