Matt Taylor has called for his Bristol Rovers players to use Tuesday night’s win and performance against Charlton Athletic as a springboard for a positive run of results ahead of travelling to winless Burton Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Rovers put an end to a wretched four-game losing streak against the Addicks with their best performance of the season, winning 3-2 in a contest they really should have seen out at 3-0 with two late goals conceded.
The Gas dominated large spells of the game, getting to loose balls first and coming out victorious in duels more often than not, showing an aggressiveness that Taylor now wants to be the “blueprint” for what should be expected from his team.
“I described it as the blueprint for a Bristol Rovers-type performance or the blueprint for this team in terms of what we’ve got to aim for,” the Rovers manager exclaimed. “People have to always remember that opposition circumstance and scenario play a big part in it. But the forward mentality, whether it was the first minute of the game with Bryant [Bilongo]’s lung-busting run which set the tone a little bit. On top of that, and the biggest thing I demonstrated to the players today, was our ability to compete and not only compete but come out on top more often than not.
“We jumped huge numbers in relation to those competitive duels, an area of the game where we’ve been asking for more and a better outcome for the benefit of the team and I felt that put us in a better position on the pitch and close to the opposition goal and we obviously get crosses in and run forward and look a good attacking team off the back of that.
“That was a real bit I wanted to reinforce. Wayno does a lot of the in possession which is a lot cleaner, Dave [Horseman] a lot of the out of possession work but it’s all irrelevant in terms of the make up and structure of the team if you don’t come out on top in duels. I just felt we went at the game and we went at Charlton and we generally came out on top.
“I think, particularly with where I’m at, I feel the team, individuals and therefore the group are quite inconsistent so the consistency that we’re all striving for and what you saw on Tuesday,” Taylor added. “We won’t be able to achieve that every single game but we’ve certainly got to try to. Whether we come out second best in certain moments we’ve still got to put ourselves there and that’s certainly been a frustration of recent weeks where we’ve not really fully committed to those moments with the belief that we can come out on top because we’re seeing the benefits of it.
“It’s interesting because everyone says they’ve shown that they can do it but football’s not as simple as that, we all know that. And the group are still so young and naive in certain areas of the pitch that they need time to figure out how they can keep putting their best out there and that was close to our best on Tuesday.”
Although Burton are the only other side yet to win in League One so far this term alongside bottom club Cambridge United, they have drawn half of their eight matches so far as new boss Mark Robinson looks to gel an almost entirely new squad.
The Brewers set an English football record for most signings made in a single transfer window over the summer with 22 additions and seem to be facing some similar issues to the Gas in regards to building relationships on the pitch.
As well as on the pitch, there has been major change at Burton off it too with a new ownership group taking over from long-standing chairman Ben Robinson over the summer who had been at the club for almost four decades. The Staffordshire outfit had to secure League One survival on the final day of last season and are evidently striving for long-term success but have evidently felt the rigours of what is being widely regarded as the most competitive third tier crop in some time this campaign.
On what he expects from the Brewers on Saturday, Taylor said: “No disrespect to Burton but Burton you might associate with a bit more of a physical, long ball approach in previous regimes or years. They’re [now] a footballing team and a possession-based team trying to play through the thirds. I think they recruited an awful lot of players similar to ourselves so it will take time.
“They’ve been involved in some high-scoring draws so they’ve got goals in them as well. Quite an attractive style of football. [They] changed shape on Tuesday so we’re slightly unsure what their exact shape will be but I think their patterns and principles will stay largely the same.
“A really interesting game to prepare for but in terms of where we were at Tuesday and what we’re trying to work towards, I want the focus to be on us regardless of how the opposition set up or how they play. We have to try to take the game to them.”
On the Staffordshire outfit’s recruitment, the Rovers manager added: “I’ve been in and around lower league football for long enough to know the majority, there’s actually some players that I didn’t know of. So you watch the last few games and I’m putting names to faces. Usually when I’m watching games of football I’m quite comfortable that I’ve seen them play before at previous clubs and I know what type of player he is.
“So there’s quite a bit of an unknown in terms of their playing personnel and that will take time for their manager, for the whole club to bed in styles and partnerships.
“A few clubs have had a big turnaround in terms of numbers, none more so than probably Burton. Put them and Bristol Rovers together and I think the number is well over the 30 mark which is such a big number in footballing terms.”
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The Gas have now won just one of their last 10 competitive games on the road dating back to last season, that 3-1 win over Cheltenham Town in April. Since their goalless draw at Rotherham United in their second league outing of the campaign, Rovers have lost three in a row away from home with defeats at Stockport County, Barnsley and Peterborough United.
Although they were handed a brutal opening schedule away from home, Taylor has mentioned before that his side need to find a balance between getting results both at the Mem and on the road in order to succeed. This is the first time that this term that his team will be playing a side away below them in the table.
However, he did warn that while Rovers see it as a good opportunity to record another victory, Burton will be saying the same thing as they look to pick up their first three points of the campaign, saying: “Every game is an opportunity, whatever capacity. We picked up such a good point in our first away game at Rotherham but we’ve not been able to build on that.
“[We] should have taken something from the Barnsley game, without a shadow of a doubt. Then you don’t want it to go too long before your first away performance or first away win because it becomes a bit of a topic. It becomes something out in the public domain and it’s back in the players’ mind.
“It’s a great opportunity for us but I’m sure Burton will see it as a good opportunity to get their first win of the season as well.
“I hope it’s a good game of football. I hope we approach and attack it in the right way which we always try to do and it will come down to who’s best on the day.”