Matt Taylor has insisted that his family have felt the support from Gasheads and the wider football world after the Bristol Rovers manager returned to work on Thursday following a week away to deal with a family emergency.
Taylor missed the FA Cup triumph on penalties over Barnsley on Saturday as well as the 3-0 defeat to Leyton Orient on Tuesday night but was present in the stands at Brisbane Road.
In his absence, first-team coach Dave Horseman and assistant manager Wayne Carlisle took care of footballing duties but Taylor is now back in the building after a difficult period.
“Rough time for the family. People’s support and help in any way, belief, prayers, anything that’s gone on behind the scenes, we’ve certainly felt that and I know my sister and her family have felt that as well.
“So yeah, it’s been a rough period of time but we certainly feel we’re coming through it as a family and I’m in a position now to get back at it.
“I was present for the Blackpool game, despite not being on the training pitch. Watched from afar against Barnsley. Drove up late on Tuesday having not been on the training pitch or the training ground for a period of time and watched from the back of the stands. So it’s been an interesting time for me, but certainly for the most important people, they appreciate the support.
“Nothing’s ever an easy decision when you still feel people need you and need your time and energy and love,” Taylor added. “But in terms of my responsibility here, it’s a big one and a huge priority and certainly I felt watching Tuesday there was a sense of guilt that I wasn’t in the middle of it and doing more than what I could do or should have done or was doing.
“It was certainly time for me to get back to it in the right capacity and look, Dave and Wayno and the rest of the staff have held the fort really well. We’ve progressed in the cup competition but then Tuesday certainly felt like a moment where the team needed more.”
Although they only produced six shots with one on target over 120 minutes of football, Rovers’ defensive resilience and stoicism saw them keep Barnsley at bay in a goalless affair before progressing in the FA Cup on penalties with a trip to now-Premier League Ipswich Town to come in the third round.
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However, three days later the Gas produced their worst performance of the league campaign so far as they conceded three first half goals and could’ve gone further behind in a match where they had just one shot throughout.
Taylor was in attendance to witness his team fall second-best by some margin for the entirety of Tuesday’s defeat but admitted that, rightly, there were bigger priorities last Saturday when his players were up at Oakwell.
“Saturday was a difficult day for the family so the Barnsley one was the one bright light in that day so to see the end result, and we were away from a laptop or a TV screen, and seeing the stats and the report of the game come through and getting a sense of what it looked and felt like and then seeing how we progressed and then seeing some of the footage of the scenes at the end and the interviews.
“I was so pleased to see we found a way to get through that cup competition and then, going towards Tuesday, that must have took an awful lot more than what I knew and what anyone else knew out of the group physically and mentally and then seeing that in a different capacity on Tuesday was so, so disappointing.
“We knew Tuesday wasn’t acceptable in any way. I’ve had a feel for what’s been going on but there’s been other things going on which, unfortunately, have been more important.
“Family comes first, as always, but I’ve certainly tried to have a handle on where players have been at, where players’ form has been at, where the structure of the team has been at, where the ultimate outcome has been.”