Bristol Rovers advanced to the third round of the FA Cup on Tuesday evening after a 4-2 win at Crewe Alexandra
Matt Taylor praised his Bristol Rovers team’s effort after the Gas advanced to the third round of the FA Cup with a 4-2 victory over Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.
Rovers romped to a three-nil half-time lead after goals from John Marquis and Antony Evans sandwiched a sloppy effort from James Wilson for his first Gas goal to put the visitors in command away at the League Two outfit. An early own-goal from Crewe substitute Ryan Cooney in the second half increased their lead before a late resurgence from the hosts called into question those in blue-and-white quarters, but there was enough to keep them from collapsing.
Speaking post-match, Taylor was full of praise for his team, declaring: “Excellent in parts and then not so excellent in other parts but a few things went against us that we’re not particularly happy with. But in terms of where we were in the game, I thought we worked our socks off.
“I thought there was a concerted effort to get to the ball and put pressure on the opponent.” We knew they were a good team, especially at home, so we had to disrupt their routine. I believe our out-of-possession work-rate contributed to our objectives.
“I believe there is a good attacking output here, but we just have to work as hard as we did, at least for the first 70 minutes of that game.” That’s the best I’ve seen us in terms of effort and willpower, and I’ve seen a lot of footage. In that regard, we were undoubtedly connected as a team. Then we won the ball higher up the field and were able to apply pressure on the opposition.
“We’ve said all along that we’ve got players of a certain talent who can put the ball in the back of the net but you need a first one and then your confidence grows so well done to John in terms of that.
“A set-piece goal, which we’re probably not known for, so well done to the boys on that.” Then there’s Antony Evans’ quality.”
With the score at four-nil, everyone in the stadium, except the referee, probably thought it was about to go to five when Aaron Collins went down in the area after a challenge that appeared to be worthy of a penalty but the man in the middle didn’t agree.
To add to the frustration, this allowed Crewe to counter and score their first goal, igniting the crowd and giving the Cheshire outfit hope with 25 minutes plus stoppage time remaining.
Eight minutes later, Aaron Rowe’s cute finish injected new life into Railwaymen supporters, but Rovers settled down and saw the game out.
“I mean we could be five-nil up and probably should’ve been with a penalty decision,” Taylor said. “Then, no disrespect to the game, it’s completely dead and buried, whereas a breakaway from our attacking moment to then put the ball in the back of the net is completely dead and buried.” So, a little bit of learning, especially in the last 20 minutes.
“I’ve said all along that I’ll be learning a lot about this group over the next few months, and I’ve learned a little bit more, especially in the first 70 minutes, which is really encouraging.” But it all depends on what happens when we just have a bit of a wobble.
“It frustrated the players because with the score line like that there’s a professional aspect to the game. Those decisions went against us but we’ve got to be strong in our heads to make sure that we don’t allow that to affect our next action and we just had a little bit of a stagger but actually considering that they got their two goals with a considerable amount of time left, I was pleased that it didn’t materialise into something more drastic than it was.”
The game also saw the Rovers boss start a back-three with Tristan Crama, Connor Taylor and Wilson, all of whom were excellent on the night, with Harvey Vale and Jack Hunt the wing-backs. It worked for the first-half but Taylor was forced into making a half-time change when bringing Luke Thomas on for Hunt. At the time, it looked like a swap to keep the right-back fresh for Saturday’s trip to Bolton but, unfortunately, it’s a bigger issue.
“Pleased,” the Gas boss said of the successful back-three trial. We’re not happy that we’ve probably lost a couple. We’re just a little short on numbers, which is strange to say given how large our squad is. If we want to play that back-three, we need to have players in key positions. So it’ll be interesting to see how that progresses and develops over the course of the week, but I was pleased with how it provided us with balance. It enabled us to take the middle of the pitch with an extra body and get real legs at the top of the pitch.”
Taylor continued, “It’s a groin issue.” As I previously stated, I am very pleased with so much of that performance, but with the personnel changes, we lost a little bit of our shape and structure. To some extent, we had to look after Willo as well. It’ll be interesting to see how we can improve things for the weekend.”
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