Matt Taylor was disappointed with Bristol Rovers' performance after losing 2-0 to Cardiff City in the first-round of the Carabao Cup.
It was a repeat of the Pirates' pre-season friendly defeat just ten days before against the Bluebirds at The Memorial Stadium, with Erol Bulut's men ultimately showing their quality.
The Gas displayed promise in the first half and looked competitive against the Championship side, but goals from Mark McGuinness and Rubin Colwill put the Bluebirds into the next round.
Rovers didn't create enough chances to really challenge Jak Alnwick, with Taylor pleased with some aspects of the performance but was left frustrated with others.
We did not create enough.
“We were valiant, but we have to be better with the ball. We had some chances in the first half, which certainly should’ve hit the target.
“In the second half, we didn’t get up the field or create enough, and then we’re so frustrated because we felt there was a foul on Macca [Luke McCormick] in the bottom corner.
“Then the counter-attack against us ended up in a corner, poor marking on the back of that [for their first goal], and then there’s an uphill battle. But throughout the evening, I just didn’t think we had enough in us to create.
“We have to find more ways of hurting the opposition, so that’s something for me to look at. I know Chris [Martin] and Ruel [Sortiriu] will make a difference, but we have to find a way to break teams down.”
We had our best chances in the first half.
“There was nothing in the game until the hour-mark really. They started the second half relatively brightly, but we had the best chances in that first half. We’ve just got to work the goal and work the goalkeeper a little bit more.
“Will that quality come with different personnel? I certainly hope so, but there were moments really of our chances that were born off our industry out of possession.
“Our press, reliance in terms of our work-rate to get to the ball, put them under pressure and regain it.”
I expected more from us
“We can talk about the quality of the opposition, but I probably expected a little bit more from us.
“I was pleased with the players who made their first start, same as the weekend. I think they’re still finding their feet.
“Pre-season has been and gone now, this is a competition that we wanted to progress, we wanted to progress tonight and put on a better performance.”
“I am disappointed tonight, especially with the eleven changes they made, it was a real opportunity for ourselves, and we wanted to progress. That was a team strong enough and capable enough to do that.”
Full credit to the fans
"The fans were outstanding. I just wanted to give them more goalmouth action, not for the want of trying. We’ve not given them enough to sing and shout about, but they did it anyway, so full credit to them.
"I think they can see the effort that this group of players are really putting in, players are going above and beyond. But we can’t just keep doing that, we need more in terms of creation."
