Bristol Rovers beat Yeovil Town to secure their third win in four pre-season outings, and according to Taylor Moore, the Gas are only getting stronger.
Behind at the break against the Glovers, Rovers staged a strong comeback, with Kofi Shaw at the heart of it. The 18-year-old, who was playing against the team for which he made 16 appearances in the National League last term, crashed in Rovers' leveller from the edge of the box before assisting Luke Thomas' close-range strike.
Darrell Clarke's men had already beaten Chippenham Town and Bath City on either side of their narrow 3-2 defeat to Stockport County out in southern Spain, with the Pirates quickly edging closer to the start of the 2025/26 Sky Bet League Two campaign.
Speaking to BRTV after the victory at Huish Park, Moore was pleased his side could secure the win, but confessed they must start quicker than they did on Saturday afternoon.
“First and foremost, it’s a win,” he said. “So, I'm obviously very pleased with that. There’s a lot to work on—I think the first half especially showed that if we do start slowly, we’re going to get punished.
“We’ve had two good goalkeepers who have joined the club who have done very, very well. So, for Brad Young to make a rare mistake, we all had to rally around him to make sure we made it right for him as well.
“He’s fantastic, and that’s what pre-season is for—we’re all getting in the flow of things—but ideally, we need to start games a hell of a lot better. We had a strong word with ourselves at half-time, and the gaffer got his opinion across, and we knew what we needed to do in the second half. So, a lot to work on but another win.”
The Gas have shown a resilient spirit in pre-season. Despite falling to a 3-2 defeat to Stockport, Rovers battled back from 2-0 down to level the score before faltering in the final moments. Nevertheless, the Pirates did not fall to the same conclusion against Yeovil, coming from a goal behind to beat the Glovers with a much-improved second-half performance.
Moore knows how important it will be that his side fight back from adversity in the next campaign if they are to be successful.
“At the game, the manager asked us how many points we got last year from being in a losing position, and it wasn’t enough,” said the defender. “I think we all know that, but that was last year. So, we’ve got to have that mentality about us, we’ve got to have that togetherness, and we’ve got to have a certain grit between our teeth that sometimes we are going to go 1-0 down or 2-0 down. Hopefully not a lot, but it will happen over the course of a season.
“So, it’s about knowing the players you’ve got around you, knowing their strengths and their weaknesses and knowing this mentality is going to be needed throughout the whole season. So, it’s a good test for us today against a strong enough Yeovil side.”
Moore was an unused substitute against Bath on Wednesday night, but played the full match in games against Stockport and Yeovil. The 28-year-old has played in various defensive systems in pre-season, with the coaching team at Rovers testing different formations and styles depending on the team they face.
Moore has enjoyed the clear details and messages delivered by the staff to the players and believes all the players are pushing each other to improve.
“I think the staff have been very, very clear on what’s required of us as players, and it’s about understanding the systems, understanding the setups, understanding what the staff are actually putting in place and that they’re doing it for a reason,” he said. “There’s homework going into every game, there’s dedication from all the staff members, all the analysts and all the coaches setting us up in the best possible manner going into Saturday, which is probably something that we lacked a lot of last year.
“But we’re only going to get stronger. We’re only going to get better as a team. I think we worked a lot on the out-of-possession stuff, we’ve got to touch on the in-possession stuff, but we’ll get there. We’ve got a little bit more time until the start of the season.
“We’ve got a manager who knows what he wants and how he wants it, so we’ve got to buy into that. I’m used to changing positions and changing systems, just as long as I’m not sitting on the bench because that’s the hardest position to be in. But we’ve got some good talent that’s come through the door as well, and we’re all pushing each other in the best possible way. So, I’m excited for what’s to come this year.”
The Gas will now face Sky Bet Championship teams Coventry City and Oxford United next week before the start of the Sky Bet League Two campaign, where they will face Harrogate Town at The Memorial Stadium.
For Moore, the upcoming season is an opportunity for the Rovers players to make the fans proud, with hundreds already cheering on the Gas in the four pre-season fixtures that have been played.
“A lot of us that are in that dressing room that were involved with this Club in some shape or form last year or previous years are hurting, and I think that’s the bottom line,” said Moore. “We’ve got to go out and make amends. You see today that hundreds and hundreds of fans have turned up for a pre-season game, there were hundreds of fans that turned up at Bath, and there were hundreds of fans that turned up when we were in Alicante.
“So, they deserve that, and as someone who does a lot in the community, I know what this Club means to people. That’s what you do it for, and at the end of the day, you do it for personal pride as well.
“It’s to give the fans something to be proud of this year and a team to be proud of. The goal is clear. It’s to bounce straight back into League One. I am raring to go, and I know a lot of the boys in there are. It’s going to be a long old season, and it’s going to be a grind. League Two is very difficult, but a league that we’re all eager to sink our teeth into.”
