Bristol Rovers first-team coach Dave Horseman spoke to local media on Thursday afternoon to preview the Gas’ FA Cup second round tie at fellow League One side Barnsley on Saturday with Matt Taylor taking a leave of absence.
Rovers announced on Thursday that the manager would be taking a leave of absence due to an ongoing family emergency with Horseman and assistant manager Wayne Carlisle taking charge of footballing duties for the time being.
It is currently unclear when Taylor could be back so, for the time being, Horseman took media duties ahead of Saturday’s cup tie.
The Gas were beaten 2-1 by Barnsley in the league fixture at Oakwell back in September but had enough chances to come away with at least a point. Additionally, victory would mean that Rovers could come up against a giant of English football as Premier League and Championship clubs join the third round draw.
Here’s a full transcript of everything Horseman said ahead of Saturday’s trip up to South Yorkshire…
Well, Dave, obviously difficult circumstances we’re talking to you in. What can you sort of tell us about the last 24 hours and how things unfolded?
Matt has a family emergency. He needs to be with his family and look after them and the club are fully supportive and we know in times like this family comes first and it’s important. So yeah, we just wish him and his family well and obviously it’s business as usual for the rest of us.
I think every Gashead would echo that but it’s difficult for you and the players though because it’s a difficult set of circumstances for everyone to deal with.
What ends up happening is obviously people forget that football’s about people and the manager’s a brilliant guy. I’m really grateful that he brought me here and you don’t want to see people suffering and get hurt.
So yeah, we try to do the best job we can while he’s away and look forward to getting him back as soon as possible, hopefully Monday or whenever he sees fit. So yeah, we’re disappointed he’s not there, but we’ll do the best we can without him.
And in terms of a handover for you, is it fairly seamless, I guess, because you’ve been here for a little bit of time now, you kind of know how it all works?
Yeah and the staff are brilliant so we’ll continue the same. A week that we would normally have. We will prepare the players the best we can. We obviously played Barnsley not long ago so, good team. We kind of know what to expect from them. We know what we’re getting from our players.
So yeah, it’s business as usual. Nothing hugely changes. Training was exactly the same today. Obviously, the manager would lead a lot of the prep on the Friday which I’ve done for a long, long time now. So me and Wayne will do that tomorrow (Friday) and we’ll make sure the boys are organised and ready to go for Saturday.
Yeah and certainly short term, there are always enough staff at a football club that every job can get done…
Yeah exactly and so much experience. Now, I’ve managed. Wayne’s been in the game for hundreds of years it feels like. Scotty Brown. So yeah, there’s plenty of experience around the building. We’re lucky we’ve got George [Friend] around and as a club it’s really, really supportive and we have a way of philosophy, the way we’re trying to do things and it will be seamless.
And the players are brilliant. They’re really good people. So, actually, we’re trying to do one for the manager on Saturday, I think, and get us through to the next round.
Yeah and with it being the FA Cup, do you approach that differently from a league game, or is it just any other game?
No, it’s a little bit more tough because obviously players, and particularly at this stage of the season, obviously there’ll be probably a little bit of rotation in both teams. So it’s a little bit different.
We’ll obviously have to practice penalties just in case it goes to penalties because we really want to win this game and go through and I’m going to be honest with you right now, I don’t care whether we win in 90 minutes, 120 minutes or penalties and we’ll make sure we practice for all avenues. But in terms of because they’re from our league, we kind of know the players a little bit more than obviously the Weston game. We did a lot of research, but you’re still guessing a little bit because the levels are so different.
So, because we’ve played them, we know they’re a really good team, really tough to play against. Obviously, Darrell Clarke knows Bristol Rovers really well. It’ll be a tough game but one…I think you’d rather play teams you know than the surprise element and probably we’re slight underdogs, which I think our boys will really relish that challenge.
Rovers have shown some really good form this season at times but it’s making it consistent that’s been the Achilles heel, isn’t it and you tend to have done okay against the better teams?
Yeah exactly and I think probably our expectations of the group were that it would be a little bit inconsistent because it’s a development group. We’re trying to develop players to become better and with that there are bumps in the road.
Now, I appreciate, I mean, my son’s a supporter and you want brilliant performances, wins every week, I get it. So does everybody. So does Pep Guardiola right now. It doesn’t quite happen like that all the time. Now, what we’ve got to do as a group, and I say a group because players, staff, we’re all in this together, is just try and bring the level of consistency up.
When we played Barnsley last time, for the first 20 minutes we weren’t great. They went 1-0 up and scored a good goal and then once, like in a lot of games, we get our foot in the game and we find our rhythm, I think we’re a handful for the majority of teams in the league.
So we need to start the game quick on Saturday. Make sure we win some tackles, win some headers, because it’s definitely coming and from that, that always gives us a platform. For example, the Mansfield game, I thought the players did it brilliantly and it was a good, solid away performance. We probably need another one of those on Saturday.
And you’ve obviously worked in youth development earlier in your career. Is there a particular key to trying to get the penny to drop sometimes for players who don’t have that level of experience?
Yeah, you do lots of extra training. You do lots of extra meetings, the manager’s brilliant, he does all that. Wayne does lots and lots of bits but I think probably being in youth development, and as we all know, most people have got kids and they’re up and down. So I think with experience comes consistency, not in all cases, and, like I say, we haven’t got hundreds of thousands of games in the squad.
We’ve got some players that have done it and yeah, we have got a lot who have a lot to learn in their trade on the job in a very, very difficult league this year and I think people forget that this is probably one of the strongest League One’s there’s been with your Birmingham’s, your Huddersfield’s, your Barnsley’s. The budgets are good budgets.
So I think that would be something that I would always emphasise, that we’re doing okay. I mean, Peterborough are struggling. I think they’re one of the best teams I’ve seen and have some of the better players. So this league is a tough league. We’re doing okay and we want to do better.
One of the issues this season has definitely been sort of getting players out on the pitch with a variety of injuries over the course of the season. Anything picked up or anybody back who’s going to be available for Saturday?
Nobody is back. Unfortunately, we’ll have one or two ruled out. I won’t tell you too much. You’ll find that out on Saturday because I don’t want to give too much away.
I think with the amount of games we’ve played, the amount of games coming up, there’ll be one or two that unfortunately just can’t be risked because with the testing they’ve done with the physios this morning, probably [they’re] just so fatigued that actually we’re running a high risk of injury.
So it’ll be a really strong squad. We’re going to win. It’ll be a really strong team. There’ll be as minimal changes as possible and I’ll be really confident the team we put out is good enough to win the game.
You noted that league game at Barnsley, can you use the frustrations from the fact that you didn’t come away with the point you deserved as fuel going into Saturday?
Obviously we’ve got to put Tuesday night right first of all. Let’s not mess around, we weren’t good enough Tuesday night. The players know that, we know that, we have to make sure we come with loads of energy. We have to be really tough away at Barnsley because they’re going to stick it on us and try and beat us up and actually, the Mansfield game gives me a lot of confidence that our players can rise to that.
We thought against Barnsley for the first 20 minutes, I thought they were very good but we were also not so good. Once we got over that period, I thought for the 20 minutes before half-time and 15 minutes after half-time, I thought we were absolutely excellent. Should have been out of sight. The ‘keeper made a really good save from Prom [Promise Omochere] or we should have scored in that situation. I think it looks a completely different game.
I don’t think their home form has been hugely brilliant. Now, that really means nothing to me but, we might, if we can hang in there, start the game a little bit quicker, the anxiety in their crowd on the pitch might give us just a little boost and give us a helping hand.
But I mean, we’ve got no problem with Barnsley. We want to beat them like they want to beat us. But we’ve got to put Tuesday night right, I think, on Saturday and start the game fast.
Speaking about Tuesday night, we spoke to Taylor Moore after the game and he said that he felt that some of the players might be lacking a bit of belief. Do you see that?
No, I think they did on Tuesday night, but I don’t see that overall. I think Taylor’s a great lad and if he says it then it’s a really good question for me then. I don’t see a lack of belief, I don’t. I think on Tuesday night they lost their way. When the second goal went in, we lost our way and that’s really disappointing.
I think probably what we need to do is go back to the basics when it starts to swing and that means the ball’s got to go in the box. We’ve got to create chances and put teams under a bit more pressure and I think we let them off the hook.
We got into some okay positions and then nothing came of it and I think that’s something that, again, with young players, we want to score a perfect goal. Sometimes have a shot. Sometimes put the ball to the back post.
Although in the first half after 10 minutes, Shaq [Forde] had a really good chance. Now he’s offside, but actually I think that shows the quality of the cross and what we can produce. I think with that comes self belief and you’ve got to stick to doing the right things and when they do it, what a good group they are.
I know this is obviously a bizarre scenario, one you didn’t foresee, but obviously leading the team, going into an FA Cup game, just what does the competition mean to you personally?
Last year I had a real funny time with it. Obviously, at Forest Green, we went away to Scarborough, which, yeah, listen, it was a tough game, hostile crowd, interesting conditions. We played on an astro turf pitch with bits cut out and I had basically half my squad couldn’t play.
We scored a last minute equaliser. We then played them at home. We were 4-0 up at half-time. We won 4-1, fine. And then we found out that there was some slight paperwork issues and had to go back to Scarborough and we managed to get through and that probably showed the beauty of the FA Cup. Anything can happen in the FA Cup. And Weston showed that actually, they gave us a really good game. I thought they were absolutely excellent.
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And it’s probably coming up to a year today, it was the FA Cup second round, it was my last game at Forest Green so I’ve got a bit of an axe to grind. I kind of really want to win this one, despite whether I’m leading it, just by normal coach, it doesn’t matter. I really want to win this one because I think there’s a bit of a point to prove.
I think I’m a decent coach. I do. I think sometimes decent coaches don’t always come out on top. So, we’ll do some prep tomorrow. We’ll make sure, listen, we’re going to do what we do at Bristol Rovers. It’s not going to change in the 20 minutes I’ve got tomorrow but what I do want is full commitment because I think what our fans do is travel in numbers, in great voice, we owe them that we’re going to go and have a right good tear up with Barnsley and try and win the game.
I always feel at this stage of a season, if teams at this level can get to the second round, it’s a bit of an awkward one because you are kind of thinking about the possibility of the next round and the possibilities that could lie ahead. Have you had a bit of noise that you’ve had to kind of calm down? Is that kind of something you’re going to try and push aside and obviously just focus on this one?
Yeah, we focus on what we do. I mean, I have a bit of a laugh because I was really fortunate at Southampton. I’ve been to Old Trafford, I’ve been to the Emirates. I’ve held the subs board up at all the Premier League grounds, there’s still a couple I need to tick off. So, I have some fun in there. Actually, I get a lot of stick for that.
But I think we should be excited. I don’t want to calm anybody down. I think this group’s better when they’re energetic and vibrant. So, there’s not been any of that talk yet, but there’s so much [that’s] happened in the space of a week. We have league games, we have to concentrate on the next game, which is Barnsley, although I’m very aware that we have Leyton Orient away on Tuesday then we have Bolton at home.
Let’s try and put the best team we possibly can out on Saturday, win the game if we can. Ideally in 90 minutes would be lovely and then we prepare for the next one. That’s the beauty of football. There’s always the next game pretty quick and our boys are…they’re brilliant lads. They’ll go for it, I’m sure.
You’ve got a game to get through first but third round potentially on the horizon. It’s been a long time since Rovers have had a big FA Cup tie in some ways, hasn’t it? I mean, what are your thoughts on that? It is exciting, isn’t it?
Yeah, it is for the fans and the players and the staff and everybody. We’re all, I think people forget and probably I’m still old enough, where the FA Cup was the biggest competition.
I think the gaffer talked about it before the Weston game. It’s magical. Anything could happen. We see upsets and you imagine…I don’t know what the fans would prefer. You imagine you go to Anfield in the third round or Old Trafford or whatever it is and there’s so many brilliant clubs in the country and you just never know on the day.
We saw Coventry almost beat Man. United in the semi final. It’d be a dream. And I think our fans deserve it. They’re brilliant. They turn up every week and we appreciate the fact they spend their money. So to try and give them that, and we will be. Now, there’s no guarantees in football and you never know, we might get through and get an awful tie, who knows? But we’ll be trying to win and give them something special.
That the aim and that’s the beauty of this round. Anything could happen and then I guess would the draw be on Monday? And then we would see what we get.
But we’ve got to try and get through. We know it is a really tough game. I’m sure not many people are giving us much of a chance because Barnsley are maybe a little bit higher in the league and we’re away to them and we’ve already lost to them but we think if we get a couple of bits right we can beat them and then dreams could come true.
Darrell Clarke, obviously you mentioned him already. He’s got a lot of history with this club. It’s almost the Darrell Clarke Derby, isn’t it in a lot of ways? Do you know him? Have you spoken to him at all?
Yeah, I’ve come across him a couple of times. Lovely guy and I’ve got some friends, you know, Mikey Harris, who are really close to him and obviously he’s had a really tough time and I think in football this year, if there’s anything we’ve realised with Steve Bruce and many others, Tony Mowbray and people like that football is… I saw on social media so much support for the manager. I think it’s brilliant. And Darrell’s equally had a tough time.
Seems like a brilliant guy. I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but he seems like a brilliant guy. Done a great job everywhere he’s gone. I was just watching a little bit of them against Reading and Wigan and they’re a really well coached team so tough game.
He’ll obviously always want to beat Bristol Rovers, I’m sure no more than any other team. But yeah, we’d like to beat him this one. But yeah, he seems a really good guy and a really good coach.