After a fortnight off, Bristol Rovers will play in League One on Saturday when they visit Shrewsbury Town.
Bristol Rovers could be in luck on Saturday afternoon as they face Shrewsbury Town, a side who, according to their head c, need to improve defending set pieces whilst Rovers have had success attacking from them so far this season.
The Gas are back in action this weekend as they travel to the Croud Meadow Stadium with both sides out of league action for two weeks following the makeshift international break. Rovers’ trip to Reading was postponed amid call-ups in the Royals squad whilst the Salops were due to host Bolton Wanderers.
With the Gas seeking their second league victory of the season, they could be in luck on Saturday with Shrewsbury boss and Joey Barton’s former Burnley teammate Taylor highlighting prior to the break that his side must improve defending set pieces, having conceded directly from a corner in their 2-0 defeat to Carlisle United a fortnight ago.
Rovers have already shown threat from set plays with Josh Grant’s equaliser against Lincoln City coming directly from a corner whilst Aaron Collins reacted first when Antony Evan’s free-kick at Charlton Athletic hit the woodwork to tee up Scott Sinclair for a tap-in.
The Gas have taken six points from their opening six League One matches with their sole victory coming three games ago as a dramatic 98th minute goal from Luke McCormick secured a 2-1 victory at Charlton.
However, having drawn 1-1 with Lincoln at the Mem last time out in the league, the West Country outfit’s most recent outing was an emphatic 4-1 victory over Cheltenham Town in the EFL Trophy. Although, that will have been 11 days before Barton’s side’s next game away at Shrewsbury after the trip to Reading was postponed.
Despite having a tally of nine points so far, the Salops go into the match on the back of two consecutive defeats across all competitions and have had exactly the same amount of time without action after following up the 2-0 loss at Carlisle with a 3-0 defeat at Forest Green Rovers in the EFL Trophy.
The side to face Forest Green, like Rovers’ against Cheltenham, was much-changed whilst the consensus after the Carlisle loss was that Shrewsbury must improve when defending set plays, offering a potential area for the Gas to exploit.
Speaking after the defeat in Cumbria, Taylor admitted: “We lost the game in set plays. We concede a goal that loses us the game and almost beat ourselves because we don’t do our jobs adequately and especially at this level, well at every level of football, set plays are massively important.
“I think this league is, you know, it’s a really big league in terms of set plays and the outcomes they have on games. So we most definitely need to be better.”
It has also proven to be an issue in the past for Rovers with Barton’s men conceding 20 goals from set pieces last term which proved to be the second-worst tally in League One. Although, the Gas boss has worked hard to stamp out that particular bad habit with a largely brand new defence at his disposal.
On the other hand, Taylor also highlighted where his side could cause Rovers issues on Saturday, adding: “Now it’s a case of using the time we have between now and Bristol Rovers to make sure that when we do play Bristol Rovers, when we have opportunities to cross, we cross, when we have opportunities to shoot or to bounce, that we make better decisions as a group.”
Similarities can be drawn between the two sides in the sense that both largely have new groups to work with Salop signing 14 players over the course of the summer with the Gas bringing in 12. Moreover, they have both had long spells without action, offering the opportunity to spend extra days on the training pitch.
Speaking prior to the break, Taylor had admitted after the Forest Green defeat that he would have his side on the training pitch, saying: “Our job as coaches is to reinforce the message every day and the key messages we’re giving them. We’ve got a period now of sort of six, maybe eight training days where we can get some really positive work in with the players. It’s going to be tough. They’ll be in over the weekend.
“What we have to do is use the time on the training pitch to give us the best opportunity come the next game against Bristol Rovers.”
