Stuart Elliott responded by drilling a low shot wide, while Danny Allsopp was ruled offside when he put the ball past Kevin Miller just before half time, so it stayed 0-0 at the break which was a truthful reflection of the first half action.
The game was livened up by a double substitution five minutes into the second half. Jamie Forrester and Jason Price were both brought on, and the latter opened the scoring 7 minutes later. He headed in from Andy Dawson's corner to make sure he finished the season in double figures.
Two minutes later, City went 2-0 up. Damien Delaney passed to Forrester then went on a charging run from his own half into the Bristol Rovers box. Forrester kept control of it before passing back to him, and after cutting inside the defender he curled a right-footed shot into the top corner.
Delaney continued his defensive duties by making a crucial clearance in the 67th minute when a cross went across goal. Boaz Myhill also had to show his reflexes to deny Rovers a goal.
A conga and Mexican waves were being led around the stands, and a third Tigers goal added to the carnival atmosphere. Stuart Elliott took the ball forwards and smashed a rare long-range effort past Miller from 25 yards out to make it 3-0.
Alton Thelwell was brought on after Price had a reoccurance of his hamstring injury, but the job had already been done and City cruised to their 25th win of the season as they bid farewell to Division Three in front of a sell-out 22,562 crowd.
City line-up (4-4-2): Myhill; Hinds (Price 51, Thelwell 76), Joseph, Delaney, Dawson; France, Ashbee, Lewis (Forrester 51), Green; Allsopp, Elliott.
Un-used subs: Musselwhite, Walters.