Guly Do Prado's solitary late strike kept the south coast club in second spot in League One behind newly-crowned champions Brighton.
"I think we deserved the win and just had to keep chipping away at it," said Adkins. "They came with a game plan. I don't think the ball was in play enough and that ruined our rhythm and when a team defends as resiliently as Bristol Rovers, you have to work really hard to break them down.
"I think it was an excellent result though and I thought we definitely deserved the victory with the chances we had in the second half, where we could have scored seven or eight."
However, the victory was soured by an injury to Lee Barnard.
Adkins said: "He has gone to hospital and it looks like an ankle injury early on. But we are not the only team in the league with injury problems because everyone has them throughout the entire season."
Source: PA
Source: PA