Matt Taylor makes 'underdog' point ahead of Bristol Rovers' trip to League One titans Birmingham

Matt Taylor has called Bristol Rovers’ trip to promotion favourites Birmingham City this weekend as a “fantastic opportunity” as the Gas prepare to play in front of what is likely going to be the biggest crowd of their season.

Much has been made of Blues’ spending in the national media, let alone locally, in an attempt to rebuild a squad that was relegated from the Championship last season with a view to not only get back to the second tier as soon as possible but have the foundations laid to push towards the Premier League in the not too distant future.

The highlight of that spending was the reacquisition of former loan star Jay Stansfield for a club and League One record fee reportedly in the region of £12million plus add-ons from Fulham. The striker is a player Taylor knows extremely well having come through the Exeter City youth system while his late father Adam played for the Grecians alongside the Rovers manager.

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It is as tough as tests can get in League One but it’s still a game Taylor and his players are relishing.

“You never want to be the underdog because if you're going into competitive games or competitive action as the underdog, it suggests that the team you're playing against or your opponent is outperforming you,” the Gas manager declared. “But there might be a bit of an understanding with where Birmingham are at in terms of their squad and finances and size of the club, let alone their history.

“So people might understand that but we don't see it that way. We see it as the next challenge and the next opportunity and it's a fantastic opportunity.

“There'll be a full house. We know where they are in terms of their league position and their expectations and probably going into the weekend, their own expectations of that game. But we've got our own beliefs and expectations of what we can do and if we perform as close to, if not at, our limit, we've got a chance in any game of football and that includes this weekend.

“So it's one where I'm sure ticket sales for our away fans will be higher than usual. It's one where players, families, agents, support networks will want to attend because it's not often you get to see League One players playing at Championship or Premier League football stadiums and probably against a Championship team if we're being honest about it.

“So it's a great game for us but one we need to be at our best at.

“They’re favourites for a reason,” he added. “Good players on the pitch, players that have played at a certain level previously and probably will do in the future as well. But also a good style and a clear coaching aspect to it which has given them a structure to play to.

“I know some of the players. My teams have played against some of the players before. I know Jay Stanfield pretty well and it'll be great to see him this weekend but he's an example of his two goals last weekend, that individual moments on top of team structure means they're such a dangerous team.”

Rovers have had an extended break since their last game in which they produced their worst league performance of the season, a 3-0 defeat at Leyton Orient. Last weekend’s home game against Bolton Wanderers was postponed due to safety concerns amid red weather warnings caused by Storm Darragh.

Although the time away from the heat of battle might have given the Gas players more of an opportunity to rest and reset, it has also meant that the frustrations of the Orient defeat have sat on the mind for longer with the Bolton game an opportunity to have put wrongs right pretty quickly.

There also wasn’t an opportunity for extra training time with the weather making it impossible to train over the weekend but the hope will be that Rovers go into not only Saturday’s trip to Birmingham but also their entire festive period fresh and raring to go.

“We were desperate for that game to be on,” Taylor admitted. “I think when we all got that scary message or the beep on our phone at God knows what time on Friday, we probably sensed it was in danger. Up until that point, all the communication was we were in the amber zone of the weather warning and the game was okay.

“We saw Cardiff get called off. Newport and Plymouth but then when that alert came through on your phone, you were thinking it's only a matter of time and then obviously we got a phone call early in the morning in terms of stadium damage but more importantly, stadium safety and the safety of everyone attending the game, most importantly the supporters.

“So we quickly moved to a training session here. Turned up at the training ground and there was no power so we quickly had to knock that on its head. So a strange 12, 24 hour period in terms of preparing for the game, okay can't do that. Preparing for a training session, okay, can't do that.

“So the players actually had the weekend to themselves, which sometimes helps, but certainly we wanted to get the previous game, which was Leyton Orient, out of a lot of our system.

“I'd have liked more training time because I don't feel we've needed a physical break, maybe mentally, maybe a little bit away from the pressure of games.

“As a manager you always want to spend more time on the training pitch than what's allowed but then when the weather dictates there's not too much you can do about it. But we've come back together well this week and worked well going towards a monster of a game.”

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