Set to turn 23 next month, Connor Taylor is very much part of the youthfulness ingrained into this new-look Bristol Rovers side. However, with this now his third season as a Rovers player, you would be forgiven for forgetting that the centre-back is this side of his mid-twenties as opposed to the other.
You will struggle to find a more popular figure in the current squad with Gasheads than Taylor. One of just two remaining players in this current squad who was part of that promotion season from League Two alongside Luke Thomas, the defender is amongst the best-educated in the playing squad as to what it’s like to pull on the blue-and-white quarters and what those passionate supporters expect from their representatives on the pitch.
The then-20-year-old wasn’t just a part of that team, he was a kingpin. On loan from Stoke City at the time, the towering defender played 42 of Joey Barton’s side’s 46 League Two matches that campaign, scoring three goals including one in the 7-0 final day win over Scunthorpe and subsequently going down in Rovers folklore.
Although keen to have him back as soon as possible, the Gas had to be patient before Taylor eventually became a permanent Rovers player in the summer of 2023 having had some exposure to playing Championship football back at his boyhood Stoke.
Like when he was on loan at the club, when the young defender was available last season he very often played. However, for the start of this campaign Taylor, really for the first time in his Gas career, has had to be patient for an opportunity while on the bench.
Having started pre-season late on the back of undergoing knee surgery at the end of last term alongside picking up a separate hamstring issue, the 22-year-old had to wait until last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Peterborough United to make his first league start. The form of Clinton Mola, James Wilson and Taylor Moore as a defensive trio kept Taylor out of the team as Rovers recorded three clean sheets in their opening four league games.
However, as soon as a red card was brandished in the face of Moore after an off-ball incident against Wigan Athletic a fortnight ago, you knew that Taylor was now set for a run of three games in the side with it then up to him to play well enough to keep his place in tact.
“I feel good now,” the defender exclaimed. “Obviously I thought I would be back for more of pre-season than I was but it is what it is. It’s part and parcel of football and I’ve had to be patient. The lads started the season well. I’m not naive to think that I’m going to just walk straight back in.
“Centre-half is probably one of those positions where your timing, your concentration, awareness is more under pressure in that position so obviously starting the game is a lot easier than coming on. I think no matter what minutes you get, everyone’s got to be tuned in and ready to be counted on.”
Taylor played the full second half of the 4-0 defeat to Wigan and then the entire game at Peterborough last weekend which has seen the Gas fall to three consecutive losses having also being on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline at Barnsley. Having started the campaign so brightly with seven points and just two goals conceded in four games, Rovers are in real need of a response.
This weekend Matt Taylor’s side have an opportunity to do that when they host Wycombe Wanderers, although the Chairboys are in strong form. However, it’s the start of a three-game week with another home clash against Charlton Athletic to come next Tuesday before a trip up to Burton Albion next Saturday.
Although poor for the best part of an hour and going 3-0 down before mounting an unlikely comeback bid thanks to goals from Luke McCormick and Gatlin O’Donkor, Rovers will be hoping that they can start this weekend’s game against Wycombe in the way in which they ended last Saturday’s match against Posh.
Taylor is once again set to start and will be looking to rediscover his best self having been some way off that in the last two games as he’s started to be reintegrated into the side. When he’s on form, very rarely does any ball or player get beyond him and his colossal frame.
Reflecting on the Peterborough defeat, the 22-year-old said: “I think everyone sort of focuses on the finish to the game and we finished it well and you come off the pitch and you feel slightly better about yourselves but we can’t think like that because it’s easy to play when you’re 3-0 down because you’ve got nothing to lose.
“We need to focus on starting the game in a better frame of mind. We just weren’t good enough for 60 minutes of the game and like I’ve just said, it’s easy to focus on the positives but this week we’ve had to focus on getting more of a foothold in the game and giving ourselves a chance because as soon as you go 2-0 or 3-0 down at a place like Peterborough it’s game over. Not just Peterborough, any football match.
“I think as a team we’ve got to better in those moments when it’s not going our way which will happen in plenty games this season and it will happen again and we’ve got to find a way to, if we go a goal down or we don’t start the game too well, we need to find that reset and we go, ‘right, calm down lads’ and get the control back in the game. We didn’t do that. I thought we started the second half better but in terms of that first half at Peterborough, we just had no control of the game in and out of possession.
“We have a young team but most teams recruit to sign young players now so it’s the way football’s gone. It’s not an excuse, every team is in a similar boat. A good majority of teams are trying to do the same things as us so it’s certainly not an excuse.
“I think the start of the season we built a really good foundation on being solid defensively and being in games of football and not letting it get away from us like it did at Peterborough. When adversity comes, we need to be less emotional and relax into the game more and hopefully the results will come.”
“We’re under no illusions,” Taylor added. “We’ve got to bounce back. It’s one of those situations where every team will go through spells and it’s how you come through them. You’ve got two options, you either put your head down and sulk and let it get worse or everyone sticks their chest out, which is what we’ll be doing, and try to be brave and on the front foot and hopefully put that right Saturday.
“The first three game week will do us a world of good if we can get positive results. I think you can look at it both ways, you win three games in a week and you’re right back up there so that’s what we’ll be looking to do.”
Any concerns of reaggrevating an injury or still not being quite right are very much extinguished for the centre-back with the decision made at the end of last season to nip an ongoing knee problem in the bud once and for all.
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There was a gingerliness about the way in which he ran or walked in games towards the end of January before the centre-back was eventually ruled out for a month with said knee problem. A return to action in March saw Taylor play in every game bar the final day defeat at Wigan having picked up a separate hamstring issue the weekend before against Peterborough.
At the time, Taylor’s manager explained that the surgery trimmed any excess cartilage, essentially tidying up the knee, with the decision to do it then mainly due to the fact that Rovers were about to go on a two-month layoff.
“It was in the Norwich game where the pitch was really firm,” the defender reflected. “It was a cold night, and I’ve gone to slide but with how hard the ground was I just felt something in my knee wasn’t quite right. It didn’t feel enough to maybe stop playing or something so I carried on and then it started getting gradually worse and then I had a period of time rest and I started to feel better.
“As soon as I got back in the team, playing regularly again towards the end of the season, I could feel something niggling away and then we had it scanned at the end of the year and with the off season so long it was an easy decision really. May as well get it fixed at that time with the off season being about two months. Hopefully, touchwood I’m injury free now.
“If you’re injured in the off season you’ll be in days at the training ground earlier than the lads would come back just to keep yourself ticking over. The majority of it was just rest for a lot of time and after the surgery it was probably six or seven weeks of doing nothing really, just making sure that the knee healed right. Then it’s been about building it up to the stage I’m at now.
“I played a lot of games last year but I picked up some innocuous injuries, my hand and things like that,” he added. “Hopefully, touchwood I can stay injury free because there’s competition for places now. You’re not just going to be on the team sheet every week so making sure that my performance levels keep me in the team.”