Bristol Rovers verdict: Gas' 'warriors' overcome adversity as FA Cup dreams remain intact

Bristol Rovers had to roll their sleeves up well past the elbows and grit their teeth for the best part of two hours of football as an outstanding defensive effort alongside a spectacular goalkeeping display away at League One rivals Barnsley helped the Gas into the FA Cup third round on penalties.

Rovers started the better of the two sides as Gatlin O'Donkor struck the post and Shaq Forde saw an effort saved in the early stages before the Tykes grew into the contest and started to pepper Griffiths' goal.

This continued for the majority of the rest of normal time and then in extra-time with some excellent defending from the Gas mixed in there too as they managed to still get themselves to penalties when lacking in offensive quality.

As soon as stand-in captain Luke McCormick won the toss and both sets of players turned towards the travelling Gasheads, there was confidence that the Gas would prove victorious with their goalkeeper in inspired form too.

Victorious they were as Adam Phillips hit the post and Josh Earl saw a decisive spot kick saved either side of successful efforts from Chris Martin, Ruel Sotiriou, Scott Sinclair and Shaq Forde. The third round draw awaits on Monday evening and, as we know, that's really when dreams can be realised.

With all that considered, here are the stand out talking points....

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A win dedicated to Matt Taylor

It's been a difficult week for Bristol Rovers that has ended on a high but, despite trying to focus on the game against Barnsley, it's been difficult not to have the Rovers manager and his family on the mind over the past couple of days.

The club announced on Thursday that Matt Taylor would be taking a leave of absence due to a family emergency and that first-team coach Dave Horseman and assistant manager Wayne Carlisle would be taking charge of footballing duties until his return.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long these circumstances would last for but it was always going to be for Barnsley at least. Thankfully, it sounds as though the Gas are hoping to have Taylor back on Monday ahead of their League One trip to Leyton Orient on Tuesday evening.

As Horseman said post-match, the victory epitomised everything Taylor wants from a team and was dedicated to the manager and his family.

"We are dedicating that win to Matty Taylor and his family because that's more important than any win and I think what the team showed is everything he epitomises," he said. "Spirit, determination. He's so caring and everything and obviously we don't want his family to go through this so I think more importantly we're dedicating that purely to him and the boys went through the pain barrier for that reason today.”

Set piece progress continues as coaches deserve plaudits

Three clean sheets in four games is certainly a solid record, albeit just one goal was scored in that time, but what deserves the most praise is the way in which Rovers have improved at defending set pieces.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Gas’ resolve would have crumbled eventually having to continuously defend dead ball scenarios but the fact that they had a response to as many as 15 corners, with Barnsley admittedly wasting a couple, is admirable because shipping goals from such scenarios was a major problem earlier in the campaign.

At the other end, Rovers are still massively struggling to make the most of their own set play opportunities but it has always been such a significant work in progress that now, hopefully, the foundations have been laid for that improvement to be achieved in coming weeks amidst a hectic festive schedule.

"It's really hard sometimes for the support staff because they don't get any mentions," Horseman insisted. "Scotty Brown, he's a nervous wreck, but he works really, really hard on him. He's really diligent. I mean, to be honest, he picked the order for the penalty shootout today. So, you know, Scotty Brown deserves a massive pat on the back.

"And I have to say, Wayne Carlisle has been amazing the last two days with the boys, the enthusiasm, the level of detail. He talked about the press a little bit with the lads yesterday and and they don't get any mentions because like I said, I've done the job so you stand at the front of the dugout, you take all the praise and all the abuse, I guess it's probably sometimes. We've got a brilliant staff behind so many, Prox and Shorty and everybody else behind them. They don't get any praise and today things like defending set plays, they are massive."

Rotated players impress, including 'warrior'

Not that the Gas named a weakened side by any stretch, but four changes were made from the 2-0 defeat to Blackpool on Tuesday with a bit of rotation necessary amid fatigue within the squad.

Gatlin O’Donkor, Michael Forbes and Joel Senior came into the starting line up, as well as regular Clinton Mola, with the trio playing limited minutes this season for different reasons.

O’Donkor has missed a month of action with a hamstring issue and made his return from the bench last weekend at Mansfield, Senior was making his first appearance in three months after recovering from injury and Forbes has simply found himself down the pecking order on the back of James Wilson, Connor Taylor and Taylor Moore’s excellent performances this campaign.

What has to be noted is how well all three played, especially West Ham loanee Forbes.

The 20-year-old centre-back seemed to be everywhere he needed to be for the Gas, reading the game with maturity and getting himself to countless balls. Opportunities will continue to be limited for the time being with Taylor and Wilson playing so well but there will now be confidence that the Northern Irishman can step in if needed when the fixtures get particularly busy during the festive period.

On Forbes, Horseman said: "It's really interesting. So, he obviously came in from West Ham, started pre-season really well, had a little bit of tendonitis, I think, and obviously then hasn't quite got in the team. Now, Connor and Willo have been brilliant for us, along with many others, but particularly those two. So, he's had to bide his time.

"I think when you go out on your first loan, your first loan's really about this where when you're in the academy system, if you're a good player like Michael is, you play every minute and actually now he's got to learn to fight his way in. What Michael's got is incredible. As you can see, he's a really, really good defender and he's going to go and have a really good career.

"But what he's actually done is managed to get over the disappointment of not playing, knuckle down and improve. I'm sure the gaffer was watching today. So I'm sure that gets him definitely much closer to the starting team and he's built trust with his teammates and everybody else. I'm really proud of him today because he's a soldier, he's a warrior, that one."

Into the hat as dreams can be realised

They’ve ridden their luck in both ties, playing 240 minutes as well as a penalty shootout so far in the FA Cup, but Rovers have made it to the sacred third round stage which, for clubs like them and squads like theirs, can make dreams come true.

Naturally, hopes will heighten ahead of Monday night’s draw and the Gas could get a stale tie that doesn’t covet much excitement but just the thought of potentially getting a dream tie always excites.

Of course, they’re as likely as going to Old Trafford as they are hosting Harrogate Town but fingers will remain crossed that Rovers get what can be classed as a great draw. Roll on Monday evening.

FA Cup third round ball numbers in full...

1. AFC Bournemouth

2. Arsenal

3. Aston Villa

4. Blackburn Rovers

5. Brentford

6. Brighton and Hove Albion

7. Bristol City

8. Burnley

9. Cardiff City

10. Chelsea

11. Coventry City

12. Crystal Palace

13. Derby County

14. Everton

15. Fulham

16. Hull City

17. Ipswich Town

18. Leeds United

19. Leicester City

20. Liverpool

21. Luton Town

22. Manchester City

23. Manchester United

24. Middlesbrough

25. Millwall

26. Newcastle United

27. Norwich City

28. Nottingham Forest

29. Oxford United

30. Plymouth Argyle

31. Portsmouth

32. Preston North End

33. Queens Park Rangers

34. Sheffield United

35. Sheffield Wednesday

36. Southampton

37. Stoke City

38. Sunderland

39. Swansea City

40. Tottenham Hotspur

41. Watford

42. West Bromwich Albion

43. West Ham United

44. Wolverhampton Wanderers

45. Salford City

46. Charlton Athletic

47. Exeter City

48. Leyton Orient

49. Bristol Rovers

50. Dagenham and Redbridge

51. Accrington Stanley

52. Lincoln City

53. Burton Albion or Tamworth.

54. Blackpool or Birmingham City.

55. Mansfield Town

56. Peterborough United

57. Stockport County

58. Wycombe Wanderers

59. Morecambe

60. Solihull Moors or Bromley.

61. Kettering Town or Doncaster Rovers.

62. Reading or Harborough Town.

63. Harrogate Town

64. Wigan Athletic

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