Bristol Rovers boss on victory over Carlisle United

The manager of the home side felt the timing of Chris Martin’s equaliser was critical to his team’s fightback.

And Taylor also highlighted the way his side denied Carlisle a goal early in the second half as a major part of their 2-1 victory.

“[The performance was] not perfect in any way. I don’t think the pitch allows you to be perfect for large parts of the game, certainly in terms of how fluent the game is,” said Taylor.

“But I thought we were really honest in terms of the intent to work hard, get to the ball and put the opposition under pressure.

“We went behind, as we have been in the last few games, which is always difficult especially at home, so the equaliser is a big moment – Jevani [Brown]’s touch, a bit of skill, and the cross for Chrissy [Martin].

• Bristol Rovers 2-1 Carlisle United: as it happened

“That moment can’t go underestimated, because if we stay behind for longer, the pressure increases, the expectation increases, especially against a team who are bottom of the league.

“We were able to build on that but it still needed a bit of quality to be the difference.”

The shot from Scott Sinclair beats Harry Lewis for the winner (Image: Richard Parkes)

Carlisle, who had led through Josh Vela’s 16th-minute goal, could have regained the advantage after the break, but Luke Armstrong and Jon Mellish were denied at close range following a Taylor Charters corner.

Soon afterwards, Scott Sinclair hit what proved to be the 12th-placed hosts’ winner.

“That was us in a nutshell over the last six to eight weeks,” Taylor told the BBC, referring to United’s close-range chances.

“It was a direct ball into our backline, we didn’t deal with it well enough, then there’s a set-piece, and [goalkeeper Jed Ward] has made a double save, and there’s a double scramble on top of it.

“In recent weeks that’s gone in the back of the net and all of a sudden we’re 2-1 down and having to do it all again.

“Maybe that was a bit of the luck we needed on our side, with Jed’s contribution and the defensive contributions.”

On Sinclair’s winner, Taylor added: “Because he’s right footed on the left, he’s so difficult to defend against. Two moments of real quality [won us the game].”