Matt Taylor reacts to 'soft' Bristol Rovers defeat at Barnsley as Gas rue missed chances again..by Daniel Hargraves.i2-prod.bristolpost.co.uk/incoming/article9018606.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_GettyImages-1912394223.jpgMatt Taylor has admitted his Bristol Rovers side are conceding too many "soft goals" after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Barnsley despite having a number of chances to score at Oakwell on Saturday afternoon.
There was a sense of deja vu in South Yorkshire as, once again, the Gas created a handful of chances against one of League One's strongest outfits but eventually came away empty-handed with the defeat extending their gap to the play-offs to 12 points.
Having gone behind late in the first half as Devante Cole scored probably the easiest of his now-15 goals in the division this season after initially hitting the post before Luke Thomas had a golden opportunity to equalise before the break back at his old hunting ground, Rovers certainly improved in the second half. The likes of Chris Martin, Jevani Brown and Luke McCormick all came close to equalising before the former netted his ninth league goal for the Gas, converting an Antony Evans cross in the box.
If anyone looked the more likely to grab a winner it was the side in blue-and-white quarters but, frustratingly, it was Barnsley who went on to score the decisive goal as Corey O'Keeffe capitalised on lacklustre defending in the 73rd minute, five minutes after Martin's equaliser.
The Gas drop to 11th in the league table but, as things stand, will have four home games in a row, three if they are to beat Norwich City in Wednesday night's FA Cup third round replay. There was no indication that attention for the away side was directed towards the next game with this crop all excellent professionals but is definitely another afternoon to add to the missed opportunity list.
Asked for his verdict on the match, Taylor exclaimed: "A lot of chances. I don't think we were good enough first half. I thought we lacked a bit of our strength, intensity, brightness when the ball was in around us. A little bit too similar to the patterns we've had away from home this season. But we still created chances throughout the course of the game.
"Second half performance was much improved, certainly in terms of our understanding of what the game needed first and foremost. Then their winning goal came, not out of nowhere, but a throw-in situation which we defended poorly.
"We've not kept a clean sheet since I've been here which is a pretty damming statement on myself and this group of players because we do create chances, we always look like we've got a threat about us. Not to say we weren't clinical enough in the final third but we've certainly got to find a way to stay more controlled in games.
"Every goal you concede you can go into real detail but the reoccurring theme is that we've just conceded too many goals which we've felt are soft goals. That word is probably a little bit of us at the moment. There's a bit of softness and that's not always a physical statement, it's our mindset towards it, our understanding of what's needed in certain times."
The 41-year-old was complimentary of his side's second half display and the number of chances created with the final shot count clocking in at 15 with seven on target compared to Barnsley's 14 with five. Ultimately though, it's another familiar story for the Pirates.
"It's frustrating because over the course of a game there we've created the cleaner chances but it's irrelevant and I've said that too many times away from home," the Gas boss added. "Certainly the Wycombe game felt a bit like that in the first half, Blackpool to a certain extent. Then you always give yourself such an uphill battle. They can take time out of the game and then hit you with a sucker punch.
"I thought they were better in those moments. No disrespect to them, they didn't have a host of moments. Our goalkeeper hasn't been overworked. Their 'keeper has made several saves. I'm not sure we scored the scruffy goals of the footballing world or we believe we're going to score them. The contrast in the way we approached our work in the second half to the first was much improved."
Already there was noise surrounding Chris Martin going into this afternoon's game and that will get even louder following his ninth league goal for the Gas. Currently, Rovers have three more games with the 35-year-old striker before his current contract expires but, when asked, Taylor admitted he's working as hard as he can to keep the forward on the books with a potential hint of confirming there is interest elsewhere.
On his in-form striker, he said: "I'm doing everything I can to get the club to make the right decision in relation to that. If he keeps on scoring then he's hot property. But he's ours at the moment, hopefully that continues.
"I've had conversations with Chris, he's certainly indicated that [he wants to stay]. Not because it's an easy fit, hopefully because he's seeing this team create chances not just for him but any forwards on the pitch.
"Jevani [Brown] could've contributed in front of goal today. John was probably a bit unlucky at the end so certainly there's a change in terms of how many chances his team are creating and that should suit any centre-forward so I would expect he would want to be here but he's got to work for everyone."
The pre-match confirmation that Trevor Clarke's contract had been terminated by mutual consent so that the left-back can join former loan side Shamrock Rovers on a permanent basis means that the Gas have now lost four players this transfer window, although the departures of James Belshaw and Clarke don't make a massive difference with both away on loan at the time of their permanent departures.
We're still not at the half-way point in the transfer window and, as is usually the case, the winter market is always more complicated than that of the summer with inflated prices and more players happy where they are but, when asked about pending transfer business, the Rovers manager certainly suggested that potential additions are being worked on.
"We're trying," Taylor revealed. "We lacked a bit of legs in the middle of the park at times but the transfer window is open for another two-and-a-half, three weeks. There's certainly work to be done in relation to that. I'm pushing as much as I possibly can. But generally transfer windows in January are difficult when players are playing elsewhere and are contracted elsewhere. We know what we want to obtain it's just whether or not we can do it."
