Matt Taylor hopes Bristol Rovers build on his first league win as boss at Bolton
Posted Sunday, December 17, 2023 by PA
Matt Taylor hopes Bristol Rovers can build on their Sky Bet League One victory at 10-man Bolton.
Taylor’s troops were in cruise control, leading 2-0 at half-time through John Marquis and Antony Evans and with Wanderers reduced to 10 men after skipper Ricardo Santos’ red card.
Gas had to survive a nervy finale as Eoin Toal’s late deflected goal gave the hosts’ hopes of pulling off an unlikely draw.
“If we have any ambition to challenge those bigger clubs at the top end of the table we need results like this,” said Taylor after his first league win since replacing Joey Barton as boss.
“It cannot be a one-off result; we have got to find a way to back it up.
“Bolton’s form at home has been outstanding, but the one thing we did was to start the game well and get on the front foot.
“We wanted to let the home crowd and the opposition know we were here to attack.
“The biggest plus for me is how the lads are working. Out of possession, they hustled and harried and worked their socks off.
“We are running more than at any stage this season and that has got to be our start and end point.
“The sending off helped us because he (Santos) was a big player for Bolton to leave the pitch.
“To go in at 2-0 we felt relatively comfortable. Our keeper wasn’t tested much in the second half.
“But there was a deflection set-piece goal. We had to withstand a bit of pressure, but we did that.”
Manager Ian Evatt described Bolton’s second defeat in six days as “self-inflicted”.
Evatt defended his decision to substitute leading goalscorer Dion Charles as reaction to his captain’s 33rd-minute dismissal for bringing down Aaron Collins.
“With some players, there was hangover from Monday,” he said referencing the 2-0 loss at leaders Portsmouth.
“Rico is brilliant player and people make mistakes, but that changed everything. We had a clear, tactical idea of what we wanted to do which meant sacrificing Dion. It was tough for him, but he understands why.
“You saw the fruits of that in the second half. When we got the plan right, we dominated with 10 men.
“We showed great character, great courage and energy; a lot of which was missing in the first half. But just as we made the change, we conceded an awful second goal and that left us with a mountain to climb.
“That was really the end of the bad stuff and had we scored 10 minutes earlier I believe we would have got something out of the game.”
Bolton’s first home defeat to Rovers since 1985 dropped them to fifth, but Evatt countered: “If we win our game in hand we are still second.
“We are going to have highs and lows, and this week has been a low. So, we need to manage the emotion and keep everyone calm and focused.”
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