David Horseman stated that his Bristol Rovers side want to progress through to the third round of the Emirates FA Cup for manager Matt Taylor ahead of their trip to Barnsley on Saturday.
The Gas will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Blackpool in Sky Bet League One, with goals from Dom Ballard and Lee Evans ending Rovers’ four-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
The Pirates reached the second round of the competition after beating Weston-super-Mare 3-1 in the previous round, with Jamie Lindsay, Connor Taylor and Grant Ward all scoring.
Horseman previewed the game against Barnsley and sent his best wishes to Taylor, who is taking a leave of absence due to an ongoing family emergency.
SUPPORT FOR MATT TAYLOR
“Matt has a family emergency and needs to be with his family and look after them,” he said. “The Club are fully supportive, and probably at times like this, we know family comes first and it’s important.
“We wish him and his family well. Obviously, it’s business as usual for the rest of us.
“What ends up happening is people forget that football is about people. The manager is a brilliant guy, and I am really grateful that he brought me here. You don’t want to see people suffer and get hurt, so we’ll try and do the best job we can while he’s away, and we look forward to getting him back as soon as possible.
"We'll try to do one for the manager on Saturday and get through to the next round."
EMIRATES FA CUP HOPES
“We will obviously have to practice penalties, just in case it goes to penalties because we really want to win this game and go through,” said Horseman. “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t care whether we win in 90 minutes, 120 minutes or penalties, and we’ll make sure we practice for all avenues.
“Because Barnsley are from our league, we know the players a little bit more than in the Weston game. We’ve played them, and we know they are a really good team who are really tough to play against.
“We’re probably slight underdogs, which I think our boys will really relish that challenge.”
STARTING WELL
“Our expectations of the group were that it would be a little bit inconsistent because it’s a development group, and we’re trying to develop players to become better, and with that, there are bumps in the road,” he said.
“What we’ve got to do as a group, because as players and staff, we’re all in this together, is just try to bring the level of consistency up. When we played Barnsley last time, for the first 20 minutes, we weren't great. They went 1-0 up and scored a good goal. Like in a lot of games, once we get our foot in the game and we find our rhythm, I think we’re a handful for the majority of the teams in the league.
“We need to start the game quickly on Saturday and make sure we win some tackles and headers. From that, it always gives us a platform. For example, in the Mansfield game, I thought the players did it brilliantly, and it was a good, solid away performance. We probably need another one of those on Saturday.
INJURY NEWS
“Nobody is back,” said Horseman. “Unfortunately, we’ll have one or two ruled out. I won’t tell you too much, you’ll find out on Saturday because I don’t want to give too much away.
“With the number of games that we’ve played and the number of games coming up, there will be one or two that unfortunately just can’t be risked because with the testing they have done with the physios this morning, they are probably so fatigued that we’re running a high risk of injury.
“It will be a really strong squad. There will be as minimal changes as possible, and I'll be really confident that the team we put out is good enough to win the game.”
BOUNCING BACK
“We have to put Tuesday night right, first of all,” he stated. “Let’s not mess around as we were not good enough. The players know that, and we know that. We have to make sure we come with loads of energy and be really tough away at Barnsley, as they are going to stick it on us.
“The Mansfield game gives me a lot of confidence that our players can rise to that.”
