Connor Taylor praised Bristol Rovers’ ‘excellent’ team performance after the Gas beat Bolton Wanderers 3-2 at The Memorial Stadium in Sky Bet League One.
The Pirates were attempting to collect their second successive home victory just three days after beating Huddersfield Town and started perfectly, with Chris Martin cooly slotting a penalty into the bottom corner inside the opening six minutes.
Aaron Morley then thumped in the equaliser for the Trotters to level the score heading into the break before Martin slotted in his second to restore Rovers lead. Bolton rallied again, with John McAtee scoring from close range to make it 2-2. It looked like the points would be shared, but Taylor found the winner with just minutes left to play to give Rovers the victory.
The centre-back reflected honestly on the first-half performance before praising the side's togetherness.
“I think the first half, I think they dominated, to be fair,” he said. “They didn’t really create too much, but we couldn’t really get near them. We came in at half-time and said we would lock onto them more, and I thought we caused them all sorts of problems in the second half. I thought we could have scored three or four.
“We pinched the ball high up the pitch. If we probably took a little bit more care with the final pass, I think we could have been three or four up. I thought we were excellent to a man. Disappointed with conceding two set plays, but a win is all that matters.
“Tactics and everything go out the window if you don’t have that passion, that desire, and that eagerness to be successful for each other, and I think we showed tonight that we’re starting to have that togetherness, and I think that was the main reason why we got the three points tonight. We stuck together, kept plugging away and got our just rewards.”
With the score tied at 2-2, Rovers won a free-kick in a promising position on the left side of the pitch. Isaac Hutchinson and Matt Butcher were standing over the ball, with the former of the pair curling his right-footed cross into a dangerous area. Heads went up, and it was flicked towards Taylor, who headed in from close range.
Going through the moment, Taylor knew it would be one of the final opportunities of the contest and was delighted he could score the winner.
“You think it’s probably going to be one of the last chances of the game, and you just hope the ball lands to you,” said Taylor. “You’ve got to want to head it. The ball gets flicked up into the air, and I’m just thinking, 'help it back across the goal.’ Luckily, it went in. It’s been a while. I need to score more goals. The Scunthorpe game was my last goal in the league, and to do it in front of the Thatchers’ End is brilliant."
One of Rovers’ outstanding performers on Tuesday night was Kofi Shaw, who won the penalty in the early stages of the contest before playing a vital role in the Gas’ second goal, winning possession and threading the ball through to Ruel Sotiriou, who went on to assist Martin.
The exciting 18-year-old was making his first league start at The Mem, with Taylor praising his performance.
“He’s got to be extremely proud of himself and its credit to all the academy staff as well,” said the defender. “The way they’ve developed him, he’s got so much confidence for such a young boy. He believes in himself so much. I thought he played a massive part in Chris’ second goal as well. He was a real shining light for us tonight. He took the ball in tight situations, wriggled out of them and worked his socks off as well. He’s got to be really proud of himself tonight.”
Back-to-back wins over Huddersfield and Bolton have extended the Pirates’ gap between themselves and the relegation zone to nine points with ten fixtures left to play. Losing just twice at home under Iñigo Calderón and scoring in every fixture at The Mem, Taylor feels his side can beat anyone on home turf.
“We know we can beat anyone here; it’s been the away form that has been the problem,” he admitted. “If only we had picked up a few more wins away from home, who knows where we could have been? But that’s happened, and we can only focus on the here and now. We’re making The Mem a fortress, which it should be, and teams are finding it difficult to come here. We’ve got to continue that until the end of the season.”
