Matt Taylor rues missed chances as Bristol Rovers endure tale of two halves against Crawley Town

Matt Taylor has rued missed opportunites from his Bristol Rovers side on a frustrating afternoon as the Gas played out a goalless draw with Crawley Town in a game of two halves.

Rovers could have gone ahead within three minutes when Isaac Hutchinson slammed the underside of the crossbar while Luke McCormick had two headed chances, one of which superbly saved, while Shaq Forde also had an excellent opportunity in a dominant first half.

However, the hosts struggled to rediscover their rhythm in the second half with Crawley enjoying sustained spells of possession and forcing Josh Griffiths into two late saves while the Gas also had the likes of Bryant Bilongo, Connor Taylor and James Wilson to thank for some excellent blocks.

Asked whether he felt frustrated with how the game played out, Taylor said post-match: "Yeah, in two senses. First half in relation to not putting the ball in the back of the net and then second half, just in terms of, not lose control of the game totally, but we just seemed to be a little bit second best in terms of space second ball moments coming out of tight areas, a bit of field position and not enough quality. Then when we did have the ball, we looked more leggy or the more leggy team as that game went on.

"But the first half, I've just watched the chances back. How the ball doesn't go in the back of the net. [A] good goalkeeping display, underside of the crossbar twice. Yeah, frustrated in relation to that. But then second half, just in terms of where we lost our way a little bit.

"I don't think Macca could do much more with his header. I don't think he could put that in a better place.

"I think we have to be better than that. But yeah, it's such a fine margin, such a close call where it hits the underside of the crossbar or a fingertip. But yeah, I back those players in that situation again. Isaac, Shaq, I would want them on the end of it.

"So I don't think I want to be too critical of those moments. At least they're getting in there and that's the most chances we've created in a half of football all season. But the way the second half went was a little bit of us of the feel of it as well where we just, like I say, lost our way in too many areas."

Crawley are known to play neat, tidy football at times and ended up dominating possession with 64 per cent of the ball at the Mem and certainly took the game to Rovers in the second half as the hosts struggled to reclaim their earlier dominance.

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Although Rob Elliot's side didn't have many stand out opportunities, they did carve out chances late on and on another day it might have ended up being an even more poor afternoon for the Gas.

Admittedly, Rovers did have an excellent chance in the latter stages of the second half when Chris Martin played through Scott Sinclair who then lobbed the ball over the crossbar, looking for it to dip over the goalkeeper's head and into the back of the net.

Largely though, Taylor's side looked leggy in the second period and, as to why that might have been, the Gas manager stated: "We wanted to keep that formation because we felt it was our best attacking options in terms of Shaq and Scotty on the pitch, certainly when we made the changes, but just in terms of where the space started to become apparent, we didn't get enough pressure on the ball top end of the pitch and then they work the ball into the space which Crawley do. Full credit to them and that was their way of getting back in the game.

"We have still had the best chance of the second half. That's the irony about it. But we stood strong when we had to in terms of defending our box. I think we’ve kept five clean sheets in 15 games, so that's a one in three ratio, which is a good return defensively. But certainly offensively, we do feel we need a little bit more.

"I think I said last week about the set piece aspect, I think that's a little bit of us in terms of we might feel pressured in that moment. We might not have the skill set to execute. For all our pressure first half and a little bit second half in terms of certain moments, could we sustain it? I’d take sustaining it over anything else at the moment.

"I'd obviously take a goal and a chance of creation, but I'd take being up in the final third for a little bit longer than we are."