Bristol Rovers were held to a frustrating goalless draw at home to Crawley Town on Saturday afternoon in a game of two halves where the Gas squandered a number of good chances in the first half before struggling for control in the second.
Isaac Hutchinson, Luke McCormick and Shaq Forde were all denied by a mixture of the woodwork and good goalkeeping with Rovers having enough opportunities to realistically be two or three goals to the good.
However, Crawley controlled the majority of the second half and kept most of the possession with Josh Griffiths and his defence called into action on a few occasions.
It will certainly be seen as two points dropped against a side that came into the game with one of the worst away records in the division as well as sitting in the relegation zone. Here’s everything that Matt Taylor said to local media on the stalemate post-match…
I think a word I used a lot in commentary was frustrating today. Was that frustrating for you as well?
Yeah, in two senses. First half in relation to not putting the ball in the back of the net and then second half, just in terms of, not lose control of the game totally, but we just seemed to be a little bit second best in terms of space second ball moments coming out of tight areas, a bit of field position and not enough quality. Then when we did have the ball, we looked more leggy or the more leggy team as that game went on.
But the first half, I’ve just watched the chances back. How the ball doesn’t go in the back of the neck. [A] good goalkeeping display, underside of the crossbar twice. Yeah, frustrated in relation to that.
But then second half, just in terms of where we lost our way a little bit.
You say you’ve watched them back. Good saves. Do your players need to be more clinical down front of goal?
I don’t think Macca could do much more with his header. I don’t think he could put that in a better place.
I think we have to be better than that. But yeah, it’s such a fine margin, such a close call where it hits the underside of the crossbar or a fingertip. But yeah, I back those players in that situation again. Isaac, Shaq, I would want them on the end of it.
So I don’t think I want to be too critical of those moments. At least they’re getting in there and that’s the most chances we’ve created in a half of football all season. But the way the second half went was a little bit of us of the feel of it as well where we just, like I say, lost our way in too many areas.
You used the word leggy, what would you put that down to?
Look, we wanted to keep that formation because we felt it was our best attacking options in terms of Shaq and Scotty [Sinclair] on the pitch, certainly when we made the changes, but just in terms of where the space started to become apparent, we didn’t get enough pressure on the ball top end of the pitch and then they work the ball into the space which Crawley do. Full credit to them and that was their way of getting back in the game.
We have still had the best chance of the second half. That’s the irony about it. But we stood strong when we had to in terms of defending our box. I think we’ve kept five clean sheets in 15 games, so that’s a one in three ratio, which is a good return defensively. But certainly offensively, we do feel we need a little bit more.
I think I said last week about the set piece aspect, I think that’s a little bit of us in terms of we might feel pressured in that moment. We might not have the skill set to execute. For all our pressure first half and a little bit second half in terms of certain moments, could we sustain it? I’d take sustaining it over anything else at the moment.
I’d obviously take a goal and a chance of creation, but I’d take being up in the final third for a little bit longer than we are.
You made four substitutions, bold substitutions looking to break down Crawley. How did you think they worked out?
Yeah, I mean, I think it probably emphasised the space for them, but it still meant we had a threat on the pitch. I’d say Scotty’s best chance in that.
So, home game we wanted to win it. It was a risk I was willing to take and also those players I brought off, I want more from them. Probably Macca aside, who I thought was excellent throughout, we need more from all our players.
Like I say, from Connor [Taylor] and Willo [James Wilson] and Josh towards the end, just standing firm. It could have been a painful ending, but you cast your mind back to where we were at half time, we should have been more than two goals ahead.
You mentioned Luke McCormick. He was excellent. He’s had this sort of stop start over his Rovers career. Do you feel now he’s ready…
He just needs to keep playing like that. I’ve said time and time again, if you play well, you play. He’s getting on the end of things. He’s looking bright. He’s good in terms of our press. He was our best one of that quartet at the top end of the pitch today.
I think he’ll keep on getting better with games and with time and brightness. But his game in the second half suffered in terms of an attacking sense because the team lost a little bit of control.
But Macca in terms of the last couple of games and even when he came on against Weston has made a difference and contributed. So, yeah. It’s not the start of anything different. It’s just if you play well, you play.
Promise Omochere came on as a sub. How important is it just to get those minutes into his legs? You could see that he hadn’t played for a while.
We’re a third of the way into the season and I want to change the narrative of getting minutes into players’ legs and, you know, we’ve got to win games of football. We’ve got to score goals. Promise was brought in to score goals and make a difference top of the pitch.
So great he’s back on the pitch, now it’s going to be about contribution. There’s going to be competition for places because we hope Gats will be available in some form back end of the week.
Yeah, they’re all coming back from something but he’s not been out for a long period of time. So, yeah, let’s get them where they need to be and let’s get them firing a bit.
You had to rejiggle your defence, so you’ve got the clean sheet and Clinton [Mola] to be fair to him, he’s played out of position and been solid today.
Yes, he has. He did a fantastic job for the team. I liked Bryant [Bilongo] in some senses of the game, certainly in terms of going forward and giving it everything, but even him cramping up at the stage in the second half.
We weren’t perfect in terms of that back line but I can trust Clinton to do a job there, which is positive moving forward and the way Bryant’s played today, now we’ve got good competition at left-back.
I think Bryant also celebrated a challenge he made. That’s probably one of his best performances so far, right?
Yes. There’s still the moment where you take a deep breath and there’s a giveaway moment or a decision that doesn’t quite fall to you but his intent trumped everything today. Good size, pace and power. He actually put the crosses in for Macca’s headers in the first half. Works well on the outside of the pitch.
Yeah, he’s young, he’s learning, but that was really positive for Bryant today.
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Is one of the biggest frustrations that you’ve had Chris Martin back for four games but the service probably hasn’t been there and he hasn’t really had a standout chance fall to him?
Yes and no because we created chances today. If that was like the second half was throughout the course of the game, then I’d be really worried. The chances don’t have to fall to Chrissy. Great if they do because he’s our best finisher.
But the way the team was set up, we’ve got a right-footed player playing on the left wing, left-footed player playing on the right wing and certainly when we’ve had today a left-footed right-back, probably those crossing opportunities where Chrissy really strives for weren’t at a premium today.
That’s the nature of the beast in terms of the way the team was set up but you look at different opportunities to cross the ball and, I have to be honest, we don’t look like a good crossing team because you add set pieces to that. We never get in the right position and that’s just the way the squad is unfortunately made up.
Yeah, you talked about set pieces and attacking set pieces last week, is there a bit of disappointment that maybe again you’ve struggled to capitalise?
Yeah, I’ve said it publicly, it just adds pressure to it, but we can’t hide away from it, we’re the least effective team in the league at set pieces.
Structurally, we’ve been in a good position in so many moments of the game, but like I say, if we got any goal return whatsoever, but also a sustained pressure feel. Another one, another one, a chance creation. Now, Isaac’s one against the crossbar in the first half was from a set piece.
So we feel we might be moving in the right direction but this team could be so much more effective in that. I do feel we’ve got players who can meet the ball, but I don’t think we all trust where the ball is going to be often enough and part of that is we’re at home, fans will voice their opinion at a certain stage, but we have to take responsibility. Say yes, I want that ball in that moment. I want the ball to fall to me. I want to be the one who’s taking that set piece and I’m going to put it exactly there and if I don’t do it first time, it certainly don’t affect my next two, three, four actions in those moments where it feels like it does at the moment.
It felt as though there was particular frustration towards the officiating today. I don’t know what you thought of the officiating but maybe there is a suggestion that there was a bit of a lack of control?
Yeah, certainly first half. I don’t understand why there was so much time taken out of the game in the first half, both by the opposition and by the official.
Every set piece we had, he slowed it down and spoke to both sets of players. I speak about momentum, about sustaining it. That’s officiating. You give a decision, if you see a decision, nothing before and I don’t understand why his involvement is in relation to that.
Look, he’s a referee who’s done this level for a long period of time and obviously been moved up so he’s done fantastically well. But yeah, certainly first half I was frustrated at how long the game seemed to be taking and how many stoppages there were.