On a night that could well have had a deeply ominous feel about it, Bristol Rovers stepped up when they and their manager needed them to the most with a victory over Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night.
Matt Taylor revealed post-match that he had had a conversation with his players ahead of the game about his position at the club on the back of four consecutive defeats. You certainly got the impression going into Tuesday that a fifth loss in a row could well have seen the 42-year-old’s tenure in BS7 come to a premature conclusion. Instead, Rovers produced one of their best displays of Taylor’s 10-month spell at the helm.
There’s always a scale that can be tipped one way or another based on opinion regarding whether the victory came as a result of the Gas being excellent or Charlton being particularly poor. With the players at their disposal, for example Luke Berry who played in the Premier League last season, the Addicks were underwhelming to say the least but Rovers were more aggressive and outmuscled their opponents throughout. Nathan Jones’ side simply couldn’t live with them.
The key word now is one that we’ve used not only throughout Taylor’s tenure but ever since Rovers returned to League One two-and-a-half years ago – consistency. It’s a factor that has evaded Rovers for too long and is something this side will need to find in order to truly put their recent poor run behind them.
So many positives can be taken from Tuesday night’s win and it proved what this team is capable of. However, there have been a number of moments where you’ve thought the Gas would kick on since the start of last season and it hasn’t quite materialised. This has to be used as a foundation upon which Rovers build as opposed to being a one-off. Saturday’s trip to winless Burton Albion is a great next game to test that notion.
For now though, let’s focus on the present and dissect the Gas’ best performance of the season so far. Here are some of the major talking points…
Senior heads lead by example
There has been so much discussion around the youthfulness of Rovers’ squad so far this campaign and that will continue throughout. It’s been a major talking point amid this losing streak, suggesting that the inexperience of a number of players compounded into a fragile team mentality. However, there has always been at least a few senior players in every starting line up and a couple of occasions where they haven’t stepped up and led by example. Against Charlton, they certainly did that.
The three goalscorers in Scott Sinclair, Jamie Lindsay and James Wilson are 35, 28 and 35 years old respectively while the inclusion of Jack Hunt in a starting lineup for the first time this season made a notable difference with the right-back getting an assist. Sinclair and Lindsay’s strikes are stunning finishes while Wilson popped up where he needed to be, evidently itching for a goal having tested his luck being Rovers’ furthest man forward on a counter moments before his header past Will Mannion.
You could write separate headlines about all three goalscorers and their performances. The impact Sinclair has had on his return to the starting lineup with two goals while being Rovers’ most dangerous player going forwards in the past two games should extinguish any doubt that the captain can’t have a serious affect on this side. Lindsay truly introduced himself to Gasheads, not only with his goal but with a tough-tackling display in the middle of the park. Wilson, who has been a scapegoat amongst many supporters at times, guided Connor Taylor and Clinton Mola through the contest and won everything that came his way.
On his senior players stepping up, Taylor told Bristol Live: “They did, and they’ve stepped up in the last week. Jamie Lindsay probably shouldn’t have been in the starting lineup tonight, but in my position, I wanted him to be out there because I trust him. [The] reason why Scott Sinclair’s playing, I trust him. He’s got a goal in him and leads by example.
“I think the way Willo and Scotty conduct themselves on a daily basis is…I keep on pushing on that message to our younger players. Our ones who haven’t been there and done it in terms of their professionalism, their attitude, just their willingness to learn.
Scotty’s been out of the starting team in the last four or five games. He’s been on the pitch coming on. He’s not once knocked on my door with any complaints in relation to why he’s not. He’s just bided his time and then it is a performance game. I’ve said this so many times.
“If you perform, you keep your shirt. Whereas a lot of our young ones are justification of why they’re getting left out or excuses elsewhere. It’s a game of football. Play well. If you don’t play well, don’t knock on my door and ask why you’re not playing. It’s really simple and Scotty is a shining light in relation to that.
“I wish I’d have worked with him closer to his pomp. But his last two goals, they are Scott Sinclair to a tee. And not only that, but he sets off that forward antenna and press for the team.”
If Promise Omochere doesn’t score, he has to play like that
Having been dropped for the Wycombe game after a run of quiet displays, Promise Omochere came back into the side and showed why he should be playing. The striker’s best performance for Rovers so far will obviously be seen as the one against Cambridge United in which he scored two goals but in terms of being a genuine handful for defenders, the Irishman’s display against Charlton is truly in contention for that accolade.
Having now watched a good deal of the club-record signing, it’s evident that he plays his best football when he’s got the ball at his feet and is up against defenders because his link-up and hold-up play has largely been outstanding in a Rovers shirt. You can argue that he didn’t get enough service or he didn’t make himself available enough, either way Omochere’s performances against Wigan and Peterborough were extremely quiet while against Barnsley the former Fleetwood man squandered a golden opportunity to hand his side the lead.
Against Charlton the striker, at times, bullied the defenders with his strength but also his agility. In terms of scoring opportunities, the 24-year-old had one half-chance in the first half that arguably he could’ve done better with as he arrived at the back-post after a cross in had passed by. However, he showed the other side to his game with two assists.
The first is probably the stand out. A lovely clipped ball over the top from Mola was brought down by the striker who then drove at his man before squaring a neat ball to Lindsay on the edge of the area to score. Admittedly, the assist is made better by the finish. Then, a flicked-on header across goal for Wilson to bury the ball into the net was also shrewd play.
Striker’s will always be judged on goals but Omochere still added to the contributions tally and, on the striker’s performance, his manager said: “That’s Promise. If he doesn’t score every week, then he has to play like that because his contribution was manhandling them and physically dominating them. Moving around defenders and the team had a platform top end of the pitch and we speak about where our game was, and our lead centre forward is a big part of that.
“We saw it when we had it with Gats at Peterborough, it makes Ruel a better player, it makes Scotty a better player because you get a team in the right place. So many good things came off, Promise doing a lot of good work in the middle of that pitch.”
Substitutions create nervy ending
If there was one criticism of Tuesday night, it seems as though everyone is in agreement that it was the substitutions based on the fact that Charlton got two goals back which made things more complicated than they needed to be. The problem though is the fact that the players who came off were never going to be kept on for the full match.
As referenced above, Taylor felt as though Lindsay probably shouldn’t really have been starting again three days after the Wycombe game. He even kept Grant Ward out of the squad entirely for rest purposes. Meanwhile, Jack Hunt was making his first start of the campaign and we know that Ruel Sotiriou still isn’t at full capacity in terms of being able to last a full 90 minutes. The same really applies for Promise Omochere while Scott Sinclair has played a lot of football in a short space of time having played little in recent weeks.
There’s argument that bringing on Luke Thomas and Isaac Hutchinson might have been better options but, realistically, you can understand why the players who came on did.
Jake Garrett’s poor header leading to Charlton’s first goal will obviously add to the argument that the changes were wrong but in order to keep the squad fresh ahead of Saturday, you can understand the reasoning behind making all five changes. If they see the game out 3-0, no one bats an eyelid.
Charlton must be sick of Rovers
This is the best Addicks side to come to the Mem in a good while but evidently there’s just something in the water in BS7 that doesn’t sit right with the South Londoners. That’s now five consecutive victories against Charlton for Rovers having done the double over them in the past two campaigns. Evidently, it doesn’t matter who’s Addicks manager as the streak continued.
However, it’s not just the past three seasons in which the Gas have had Charlton’s number. Over the course of 38 trips to Rovers, the Addicks have won just five times away at the Gas across all competitions.
It’s a small point but one to take note of, especially so soon after Wycombe got yet another result against Rovers. It just seems as though some clubs tend to fare better against others. Bizarre.
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What next for Matt Taylor?
It cannot be underestimated how significant this win could prove to be for the Rovers manager. As we’ve said, a defeat would have likely marked the end of his time in BS7 and it would have left a truly bitter taste. By no means has his tenure as Gas boss been a success yet but it would have felt harsh for the hierarchy to have backed him significantly in the summer only to make a change nine games into the campaign.
Arguments that his side has no identity or the style of football is poor were put on hold on Tuesday night. That has set the standard for what fans should expect from this team. Of course, as mentioned prior, the key word now is consistency.
Taylor is still under pressure, of course. One win won’t entirely change things but you would hope that it ignites something inside the players to then go on and put together a decent run of form.
Based on the scenes after the Wycombe defeat, supporters won’t turn after just one victory and strong performance but it will offer encouragement. What has to happen next is for Tuesday to be backed up with another win this weekend.
In some ways, you’re playing the worst possible side when looking to build a bit of momentum. Burton Albion are still winless in League One this term and that’s always a dangerous opponent; you never want to be the first to hand them victory. Having mentioned the idea of bogey sides above, Burton certainly have the upper hand on Rovers in recent meetings, winning the last three encounters.
You don’t want to speculate that each possible result will lead to a certain scenario regarding Taylor’s position. It’s simply not fair. However, one victory naturally won’t change things entirely and so it’s vital that the win over Charlton is backed up this weekend, otherwise any doubters will certainly make themselves heard again.