Following disappointing performances at Lincoln City and Port Vale, Bristol Rovers fought out a goalless draw with Shrewsbury Town.
After a recent difficult run, Matt Taylor referred to his Bristol Rovers team’s performance in a goalless draw at home against Shrewsbury Town as “progression”.
The Gas had previously lost 3-0 at home to Derby County, drawn 0-0 at Fleetwood Town, and lost 5-0 at Lincoln City. Their last goal came in the 30th minute of their 1-0 victory at Leyton Orient on March 2. These results preceded their Easter Monday matchup at the Mem. With seven more minutes of added time, that goal drought was prolonged by a further ninety minutes, but the clean sheet was definitely appreciated since they had let in ten goals in their previous four games.
Rovers enjoyed the better of the chances and on another day would’ve converted enough to secure the three points but Taylor was pleased with the response of his side after a particularly poor showing three days before at relegation-battling Port Vale.
After the game, when asked if the defence had been more disciplined, the Gas manager said, “I believe so. I observed how they approached their work. Most of the time, they arrived first. Their front line has a tangible component. I thought Jed was extremely positive since the rival squad had strength and, as we say, they’re still a young group, the keeper included. He was trying to catch a lot of high balls rather than punch, which relieved some of the pressure. Even though Willo wasn’t on the pitch, we successfully defended a set piece at those crucial seconds. They have a team that includes some huge boys.
“That’s progression for me. The headline will always be that we’ve not scored in five games and how do we start creating more but a clean sheet and the chances we created, the goal was the only thing missing really.
“Just lacked a goal,” the 42-year-old added. “Certainly in terms of some of the chances we created. We know that we weren’t at our fluent best over the course of the 90-plus minutes of the game but we still created some chances that would have made us feel better about ourselves. A little bit of confidence. Force the opposition to change.
“Generally, pleased with the intent. Obviously, I’m wanting more in terms of executing certain moments in the game but from where we’ve been in the last couple, it’s much improved.
“A step in the right direction. Like I say, there are so many things that we can do a lot better but in terms of what we created today and also limited the opposition team to one shot on goal of any note which I think Jed [Ward] saved towards the end which is an important save but they’ve always got a threat about them. We just needed to make more of those attacking opportunities.
Top scorer Chris Martin would have left the Mem feeling as though he should have added at least one goal to his tally of 15 so far this season with two excellent openings, particularly the first early in the game as he fired narrowly wide after good work from Brandon Aguilera to win the ball high up the pitch and release the striker.
Additionally, Rovers’ substitutes made an impact in the second half as Luke Thomas cutback for Grant Ward who scuffed his effort before Jevani Brown struck the post and Thomas scraped the side-netting.
However, the final opportunity of the match fell to Shrewsbury who forced Jed Ward into his only save of the afternoon via a low effort from Ryan Bowman.
The concern though is that the Gas have now played 510 minutes plus additional time of football without scoring when that end of the pitch previously hadn’t been much of a issue. Over five-and-a-half games have been played since their last goal but, as pointed out, they were able to create opportunities having mustered just two off target shots at Port Vale on Friday.
“I don’t think so because the first two one v one’s, I don’t think Chrissy will be anxious about goals because he’s scored so many of them and he’s not one to be affected,” Taylor shouted when asked whether there was any apprehension in front of the goal.
“Wardy’s opportunity to return from injury perhaps arrived too soon for him. Those were the game’s three best opportunities. After Jevani hits the post, there were several opportunities to make their goalkeeper and centre halves work really hard, but those didn’t exactly work out.
However, I’m happier sitting here than I have ever been before, and that’s a result of the team’s effort and organisation.
