Matt Taylor frustrated as Bristol Rovers come out second best at Huddersfield

Posted Sunday, October 20, 2024 by PA

Under-pressure Bristol Rovers boss Matt Taylor felt his side were second best for too long in a 3-1 defeat at Huddersfield.

Matty Pearson, Callum Marshall and Bojan Radulovic put Huddersfield into a three-goal lead before Bristol Rovers rallied, scoring a consolation through Isaac Hutchinson.

Taylor said: “The first half an hour of the game, every moment of it and every minute of it seemed to go away from us a little bit, even before the [opening] set-piece goal.

“There were just too many moments within the game where we came out second-best or didn’t retain possession: they didn’t hold the ball and didn’t have any control for long enough.

“Then the goal came and it knocked us into not a nice place to be, and not a nice place to witness in terms of our effort, endeavour and our will.

“There’s been too many performances where we’ve not seen enough out of us, and maybe we’ve got to realise that coming to Huddersfield, it is a really tough fixture.

“But mentally after the first goal went in, it was just not enough fight, not enough spirit, not enough connection.

“Maybe I should have made the changes half an hour in, as soon as that goal goes in, but there’s significant changes in terms of personnel and formation, so it’s a difficult one to do.

“But in hindsight, maybe I should have done that just for the mentality of the group.”

Michael Duff was meanwhile pleased to see his Huddersfield side claim a third straight win in all competitions.

He said: “I thought we were good value for the win. In the first half, probably 65 minutes, we were totally dominant.

“We get the third goal and then Bristol Rovers at three-nil down, they’re playing freedom football. They make a load of changes, change the shape, they’ve got nothing to lose at that point, so that’s difficult. We are holding onto a lead.

“So there were bits in that last little bit that we probably weren’t as happy with, but as a general rule we are. [Rovers] scored with their only shot on target as well. But the positive is we’ve won and we’ll learn from that little 10-minute spell.

“It’s not a conscious thing, it’s that little bit of adversity and people revert to ‘oh, do we need to protect it?’ – no, we just need to tweak a few things.

“But I’d be surprised if there are many Huddersfield fans walking out of the ground who weren’t happy with that performance.”