Connor Taylor insisted his Bristol Rovers team have been punished for making mistakes this season after the Gas lost 4-1 to Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
The Pirates were looking to take momentum into the next campaign in their final fixture of the season, with Gatlin O’Donkor netting the opener after pressurising Tangerines goalkeeper Harry Tyrer.
However, the hosts turned the score around through goals from Tom Bloxham and Albie Morgan on either side of half-time before Niall Ennis and Ryan Finnigan netted to extend their winning margin.
Defeated after going ahead, Taylor was adamant that the game against Blackpool reflected the Gas’ season.
“The 90 minutes sums our season up in a nutshell,” said the defender. “We go ahead, we give them a goal, and then we just capitulate in the second half, which with what we’ve got in the dressing room doesn’t surprise me. We’re not resilient through tough times. We sink. We didn’t do the basis well enough. We’re miles off it, and we’ve got exactly what we deserve.
“If you don’t make the correct decisions on and off the pitch, you get punished for it, and it’s happened to us. The way we have been this season, especially this last period of games, we’ve got exactly what we deserved.”
Taylor has made 136 appearances in all competitions for Rovers and was part of the Pirates side that won promotion out of League Two in the 2021-22 campaign. Signing permanently for the Gas in August 2023, he has only missed four fixtures in the third tier this campaign and confessed the end of the season has been hard to take.
“It kills me,” he stated. “Absolutely kills me. It’s hard, mentally. It’s hard to get through it. We have to be tough. It’s a bad situation. Not everyone can win every game. Someone’s always got to be battling relegation. It’s up to you to find it within yourself to do everything you can. Whether that’s on or off the pitch.
“We’ve just not had enough of them. James Wilson is a prime example. He’s played every minute this season. He’s everything a professional footballer should be, and we’ve not got enough of them. It’s as simple as that. If we had five more of them, we’d be absolutely fine.
“I would say there’s been a disconnect. Definitely in the playing team. I don't think we’ve had that togetherness that a lot of teams have in this league. Go back to before. It’s pure basics. We give the ball away in some ridiculous areas. We make mad decisions, and you get punished for them at this level.
"There are good players at this level, and you are punished for making mistakes. We’ve done that all season, and we’ve been punished for it.”
The Gas will play in League Two for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign. Taylor is confident that his team will be able to bounce back.
“Big changes need to be made,” said Taylor. “I think everyone knows that and they will. A lot of work needs to go into the summer, and we’ll be confident that we’ll get it right.
“Nobody wants to go down, but sometimes you have to take a step back to get the club back in the right frame of mind again. Especially in the playing staff. We’ve got to get that right, and I have every confidence we will. It’s a big summer ahead for us.”
