Bristol Rovers boss Matt Taylor has given an injury update following recent knocks to Connor Taylor and Josh Grant.
Both players would suffer injuries in the club’s 1-0 loss at the hands of Exeter City on Tuesday night. It was yet another below par performance by the Gas, who have been in pretty poor form of late.
In fact, Bristol Rovers are yet to get off the mark in 2024 with no wins in all competitions since the turn of the year. As a result, Taylor’s side have gradually slipped down the League One table to now sit 13th.
With their play-off ambitions seemingly crushed in recent weeks after four consecutive losses, Taylor will be looking to get a win on the board sooner rather than later, or else he may begin to feel some pressure. The Gas host high-flyers Oxford United at the Memorial Ground on Saturday in what is by no means an easy fixture.
Their chances of gaining all three points have taken a blow after some worrying injury news relating to both Connor Taylor and Josh Grant.
Having both gone off with injury in the loss to Exeter, Taylor has today stated that neither of the duo will be available for the weekend clash with Oxford.
Speaking to Bristol World, the manager gave an update on the extent of Josh Grant’s injury.
“He’s having a scan today, first impressions are that it doesn’t look good. He’s probably nicked his calf in some capacity, so we imagine the scan will show a tear of some sort.”
With his history of injury problems, which kept him on the sidelines for large parts of last season, it seems as if Taylor will not rush the defender back. The original scans do not seem promising though and he seems destined for another extended period on the sidelines.
As for Connor Taylor, the manager said:
“Nothing is required surgically with Connor (Taylor) which was the worry and that was a big worry when he left the ground on Tuesday. Anyone who was at the Norwich replay saw him jar that knee a little bit on that slide tackle, a bad tackle and he probably felt it again in the Blackpool game and then early on against Exeter. It’s been a bit of a niggle.”
“Our fear as always with knees is whether it’s ligament or cartilage related. It seems to be bone related and they actually can take sometimes longer than what those injuries I’ve just mentioned, but there’s nothing like I say surgically needed, at least straight away, so that’s a positive. It’ll be when the pain subsides and a bit of swelling, he will probably have a bit of fluid taken off his knee, but the fact that it’s a bone injury gives us a little bit more hope.”
Writer’s View
It seems to be going from bad to worse for the Gas in recent weeks with two fresh injury concerns. It’s an understatement to say that they have struggled in recent weeks and the situation has in no way been made better by the injuries sustained on Tuesday night.
With a week left in the transfer window, it is likely that Rovers will be active in the market, and they need to be if they want to spark some sort of revival this season.
Senior Editor