Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Taylor: You stop getting surprised in this game
MATT Taylor admits nothing has surprised him about the job he took on at Bristol Rovers – despite his side being in absolutely woeful form ahead of this afternoon’s West derby away to Cheltenham Town.
The Rovers manager took charge of his first home League game in the reverse fixture against Cheltenham, a 1-1 draw at the Memorial Stadium, and it is fair to say that plenty has happened in the time since.
Taylor’s side have shown glimpses of their best, with victories over Bolton Wanderers, Portsmouth and Charlton, as well as producing a superb performance at Norwich City in the FA Cup.
However, since the 1-0 victory at
Leyton Orient early last month, their form has dipped, with Rovers setting a club record for their longest spell without a goal, which stretched to 690 minutes (excluding added time), following a 2-0 home defeat to Reading on Tuesday.
“If you spend any time in football, long enough in this position, you stop getting surprised,” Taylor said when previewing this weekend’s trip up the M5.
“So I’ve learned so much in the last six or seven years of management where something will always come to the fore. I’m sure we’ll be a little bit more settled next season, but if you’re in this position or involved in football then there’s constantly things that you just have to address.”
For the first time since Taylor’s appointment, it felt as though there was a significant proportion of fans whose patience with either the manager or the team or both had worn out following Tuesday night’s loss to the Royals as a booming ring of boos rang around at full-time.
Taylor conceded: “You have to accept it. See it for what it is. (I take) full responsibility for the team’s form. When you walk into a job, you are the manager of that group of players and there’s a lot of side issues. I think we all know that, but it’s no excuse for our results or performances on the pitch.”
Rovers are not mathematically safe from the drop yet, but any fears of relegation could be dispelled with victory over the Robins today.
Cheltenham, however, could get out of the bottom four if they win and other results go their way – but manager Darrell Clarke, formerly of Rovers, knows they must be better than they were when losing to alreadyrelegated Carlisle in midweek.
“It was very disappointing on Tuesday, the players were flat, but we lifted the place when we were back in on Thursday ready to go again against a Bristol Rovers team who aren’t firing on all cylinders.
“My players will be getting my full support, we are the underdogs in every game, but with the way the players have performed and the effort they’ve gave me, we are still trying to do what everyone thought was impossible when I came in.”
In-form Bristol City will attempt to make it 13 points from a possible 15 and five clean sheets in a row when they host Huddersfield in the Championship today, while City’s bottom-of-the-WSL women’s side head to third-placed Arsenal on Sunday evening.