Matt Taylor and Bristol Rovers players must respond to angry supporters on the pitch: View

Just as manager Matt Taylor and his Bristol Rovers squad were taking a breath after back-to-back wins against Charlton Athletic and Burton Albion, seemingly putting behind them a run of four straight defeats, the heat has once again risen on the manager, and his players are facing bitter scrutiny from supporters.

The Pirates went down 4-0 away to local rivals Swindon Town in the EFL Trophy last Tuesday with that deficit coming as early as the 35th minute. Rovers did spare themselves further blushes by keeping Swindon restricted to that scoreline, but the Rovers supporters were not shy in letting their feelings be known following the heavy defeat.

There was a strong reaction on social media in the wake of the Swindon result, with both Taylor and his squad coming under fire. Among the more family-friendly comments post-match, supporters shared their dismay about the apparent lack of squad depth.

Bristol Rovers “embarrassed”

Taylor Moore was captain for the defeat at Swindon and after the match he spoke of the embarrassment he felt on behalf of the squad and apologised to Gasheads.

The Rovers stand-in skipper said via the club media: “It’s hard to put into words, but obviously, being captain tonight and speaking on behalf of everyone, the main word that I’m going to put forward is embarrassment. It’s very easy to point fingers at other people and tactics. People blame the manager or the owners, but that’s an excuse and tonight, I’m not deferring whatsoever, the actual problem was us the players. We’ve been on a poor run of form in the league lately, but we’ve been able to turn that around with two wins in two.”

Moore continued: “I think the shock of losing 4-0 here tonight against a Swindon team that caused us some issues, but I don’t think they were any better than we were. The main thing that I can say from us as a team tonight is just a complete lack of heart tonight. The fans have come here on a Tuesday night, so, to each and every one of those fans that sat up in that stand, I apologise. We all apologise as a team because that is not acceptable and it’s not our standards. The minute we step onto that pitch we need to be better and be more professional and I just think from minute one tonight, unfortunately, each and every one of us can say that we are embarrassed about tonight’s performance for sure.”