Matt Taylor has joked that his Bristol Rovers side “will kill” him after they overcame a 1-0 deficit at half-time to win 3-1 away at Burton Albion on Saturday afternoon, making it back-to-back victories for the first time this season.
Rovers conceded one of their poorest goals yet this campaign when Danilo Orsi poked the ball home under Josh Griffiths after miscommunication with defender Clinton Mola.
The Gas could’ve taken the lead early into the contest when Scott Sinclair forced Brewers goalkeeper Max Crocombe into action while Ruel Sotiriou saw an effort cleared off the line late in the first half.
Taylor opted to bring on Shaq Forde and Grant Ward five minutes into the second half and the duo swiftly combined with the latter setting up the former for his first Gas goal and the equaliser.
Seven minutes later, Ward was the architecht again as a clipped ball to the back post was volleyed home by Mola for his first goal in a Rovers shirt.
Burton pushed for an equaliser of their own but saw Terence Vancooten sent off for denying Gatlin O’Donkor a clear goalscoring opportunity. Taylor’s men then secured the points when Ward fired home in added time in what was a sensational impact from the bench.
The Rovers manager declared ahead of the match that he hoped it would be an entertaining game and it certainly was that for the neutral while nervy for those associated with both clubs.
“Well, we’re in the entertainment business,” Taylor reflected post-match. “The fans will go home happy. As a manager, you’ve never thought you’ve cracked it but I thought we made progress on Tuesday and then I watch that first half and you’re just thinking ‘I might as well smash my head against a brick wall’ because I didn’t quite know what had gone in relation to that.
“And then you chase it when your shape changes and personnel and we’ll get plaudits on the back of the second half but I’m not stupid. That was a difficult first half. It did not make me feel good.
“But then the contrast…this team will kill me. One way or another it will kill me. It will either get me sacked or give me a heart attack because we are so high, low, high, low. Managers need control and consistency. I’m not sure we’re getting that. Strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.”
Although Tuesday evening’s 3-2 win over Charlton Athletic was a much-improved display on the back of four consecutive defeats in League One, you got the sense that any pressure on the manager hadn’t been fully extinguished by one victory.
At half-time, with the Gas 1-0 down after a stodgy, timid first half performance, concerns crept in that have been all-too familiar in recent weeks.
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Thankfully, Rovers were able to turn the game around against an inexperienced Burton side who, despite signing 23 players over the summer, could only name six substitutes on their bench amid numerous injuries at the club.
“A bit Jekyll and Hyde today, weren’t we?,”Taylor declared. “In terms of first half, second half. First half was as poor as we’ve been in, we’ve been having a poor run form, but I thought we were just off the pace of it. We didn’t come out on top, we were disconnected, our personality went in terms of where we need to be with our feel and connection with each other.
“Honest words at half-time, changes early on in the second half, a bit more energy and intent but just the way we approached the second half was totally different and we got our rewards. We looked like a totally different team.
“But we can’t play on our back foot. We can’t play passive. We’ve just got to go all out, attack towards the ball at all times. I think that’s pretty clear for where this team needs to be. But the players still make that work. They still do the yards, they still make the sprints. They still go aggressive with their mentality and come out on top more often, which we did second half and it turned into a really good day.
“But I’m under no illusions that we’re nowhere near where we want to be just yet based on that first half performance.”