Bristol Rovers first-team coach Dave Horseman has insisted that the Gas’ progress to the FA Cup third round was dedicated to Matt Taylor and his family after Rovers played out a goalless 120 minutes at Barnsley to win the eventual penalty shootout.
The Gas had their goalkeeper Josh Griffiths to largely thank for a number of outstanding saves while defenders Michael Forbes, Taylor Moore, James Wilson, Clinton Mola, and even Joel Senior in the first half, protected their goal superbly.
Although they rode their luck on numerous occasions, Rovers saw out the victory on penalties in front of their travelling supporters as spot kicks from Chris Martin, Ruel Sotiriou, Scott Sinclair and Shaq Forde were enough to progress.
The Gas will await their next opponents on Monday night as Premier League and Championship teams enter the fray and will also be hoping that they have their manager back by then after he had to take a leave of absence to deal with a family emergency.
“We are dedicating that win to Matty Taylor and his family because that’s more important than any win and I think what the team showed is everything he epitomises,” Horseman declared post-match. “Spirit, determination. He’s so caring and everything and obviously we don’t want his family to go through this so I think more importantly we’re dedicating that purely to him and the boys went through the pain barrier for that reason today.
“We spoke about it quite a lot. So I think that’s really good. I didn’t like doing the fist bump. It clearly wasn’t me. It was very awkward but the gaffer does it for the fans and it’s important we show our appreciation and we do, we do really appreciate and maybe we don’t say it enough.
“I think when you go that long and obviously it’s a tough match, and the times we’ve rode our luck…let’s not mess around, our goalkeeper and defenders were absolutely brilliant defending the box and making saves today,” the Rovers coach, who led the team alongside assistant manager Wayne Carlisle, added.
“So when you go that far, the job’s to win. It’s only to win and to come through it is probably actually a little bit more special to win it on penalties and to send, obviously to come all the way up here close to December, all those fans home happy is what we’re really here for.”
Barnsley ended up having 30 shots, nine on target and 15 corners compared to the Gas’ tally of six shots, one on target and five corners. However, the visitors managed to keep their clean sheet in tact for 120 minutes as the entire team battled impressively for the cause.
A huge part of that was the mammoth display of Griffiths in between the sticks with a number of his nine saves shelved in the ‘outstanding’ category and Horseman was quick to bundle heaps of praise on the West Brom loanee.
“It’s not the first time this season he’s done it,” the Gas coach stated. “Now, obviously, the gaffer, George [Friend] and the board identified he was a really good goalkeeper and we’re lucky because Jed [Ward]’s a really good goalkeeper.
“But what we’re managing to do is have a brilliant one for us. Again, not the first time he’s done it, and our one’s getting really good experience. So we’re pretty strong in the goalkeeper department and Scotty Brown does a brilliant job with him as well, I have to say, so yeah, delighted with that.
“By hook or by crook we managed to win the game and in the FA Cup that’s all that really matters.”
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Of course, with Rovers in the hat for the third round for the second consecutive year, they could come up against one of the juggernauts of English football or even have a Bristol Derby match against Bristol City.
The draw will take place on Monday evening and Gas players will be together for it in a London hotel ahead of playing away at Leyton Orient the following night.
“We really hope that we get a big boy,” Horseman admitted. “I think Man. United away was mentioned in the dressing room. You just never know and it’s going to give everyone a lovely weekend and who knows what’s coming.
“But it’s not about me. I’ve literally just done one game. That’s absolutely fine but I think what that probably does show is that we can defend our goal really well as a team.”