Matt Taylor’s every word on Melksham’s win, new Bristol Rovers and Antony Evans’ exit

Well Matt, good to see you after the break. Was tonight blowing away the cobwebs more than anything?

Yes, tonight was all about fitness. We worked hard the first four days and wanted to finish the week well in terms of 45 minutes for most players.

Only one of the under-18s played 25 minutes of the second half and none played the other 20 minutes. So it was all about fitness for 45 minutes and I thought they took that on board and attacked the game. Overall, there was good tempo throughout the 90+ minutes.

Sometimes so many pre-season games are slow and warm but overall with the pitch conditions and the facilities they have here it meant it was a fast game and even towards the end it stayed competitive throughout the course.

How has this week been training wise?

I was satisfied. As always, a bit slow on the first day because there is so much to do and people knowing each other and all the tests.

This is mainly S&C and medical management and then our first double on Tuesday was nice to work on football in the morning and run in the afternoon, a bit of an old school mentality. I did this yesterday so I was expecting it to be tight but to be fair to them they attacked the game tonight and I was pleased with the way both teams moved.

There was more control in the first half without the final execution, while the second half was a bit more chaotic and probably what you would expect from a younger group profile. There are some excellent points at one end of the pitch and some very weak points at the other end of the pitch. But overall we’re unscathed so it’s a nice night for us.

With seven signings before Friday and new staff, how do you manage to get so many new people?

Well, the staff members have been together for a few weeks now and have been working while the players have been away. Football is pretty simple. Players walk in, shake hands, introduce themselves, and they all get to know each other over a period of time. Some will build really strong relationships.

But the key thing for me as a manager and for the football club is their football relationships. You could probably see this at times throughout the night, especially in the first half when they are learning each other’s positions. We teach each other strengths, weaknesses, what is expected of each other, and then we have to give them a real structure to build on.

It’s a pleasant night. I’m very pleased because we come here every year and the facilities continue to be outstanding, especially for a lower league football team so to speak, and they really look after us. So hopefully our fans got something out of it.

I hope they got to see some of the new faces there. They only see names on papers to begin with, but seeing them in person would have given them a little glimpse of what to expect. And now we just need to add more players to the group and more quality.

Of course, there were a few names from the academy that we’ve never heard before, so how much can we expect to see?

I don’t know them either! But we need to increase this connection. It was part of my mission to come to this football club to increase the link with the academy and to bring more young players into the first team and to the first team. We don’t have a development team yet, but we have half a dozen of them training with us this week.

Max Edwards played in the second half and trained every day with us. Ollie Dewsbury, at the top of the pitch, is a player we are very excited about. He is 16 years old and you could see his goal in the first minute of the second half, how he is constantly on the move. Charlie White with his first professional contact.

So there are many good signs and many good things to come in terms of the future for Bristol Rovers. But the first team is still a long way off for most of that group. Some of them will need borrowed time. Some of them need to go out and get game time in senior football and actually play more games like that, including goalkeeping as well. You can probably see we’ve been a little restless for a while.

They will only get that from experience. They will get that from training every day with the first team and being part of that environment. But then these games are invaluable for them and when these pre-season games are over, we’ve just got to make sure that their development continues, perhaps away from us in a long capacity.

Speaking of new players, I thought Isaac Hutchinson looked particularly sharp.

Yes, he is a brilliant player. He moves well, receives the ball well. He will be one of those who will be slightly disappointed by the actual end of the final product look of our attacking play in the first half.

But I liked the team’s intent in the first half, it’s just that the actual execution of that final moment wasn’t quite there. Isaac is one of those attacking players where he plays in the upper midfield and can run back, receive, has good quality in market situations and has an eye for goal which you’ve probably seen with highlights .

So he ran really hard this week and is one of the few players who can be almost in the same eye as Scotty Sinclair in terms of running. Shows you how fit a guy is and will only get better with time.

Obviously you lost Antony to Huddersfield. Would you say Isaac is a ready-made replacement?

Yes, that’s how we see things. We’ve probably got an idea of ​​what’s next with Antony Evans and we’re in the market and probably still in the market for more players who can’t do the same job, nobody’s the same on a football pitch but a similar position. The eight slash 10, the attacking midfielder. Someone who will contribute goals and assists and contribute moments in the game with the final product.

So it’s extremely important that we identify Isaac early, introduce him, talk to him about the plan, his path and realize that he’s only really played two full seasons of senior football.

So it’s going to take some time, but it’s exciting because right away he’s shown himself to be a good person. He is very humble and has a real quality.

At what point did you realize that Antony probably wasn’t going to be part of your plans for this season?

I think it’s fair to say that we had honest conversations, myself and the player, at the end of last season, entering the final year of his contract. If a player doesn’t sign a contract in the last year, then you kind of know what’s coming.

We’ve been very honest with each other since day one, to be honest with you. And so those levels of respect remained until the end. He came back for a few days of pre-season but we expected him to go at some point and it’s a healthy fee for the football club.

Similarities to how Aaron Collins left?

Categorical. Without a shadow of a doubt. We have to understand that our players are assets and when we don’t have a long-term future to build on, we have to see if we can get something back at the football club.

Sometimes timing is an important aspect of this. I felt it was time for Aaron Collins to move on and he felt the same. We felt it was time for Anthony Evans and he felt the same and that is a big factor in our decision making.

Obviously, there are powers above me that will make the actual final decision, but I understand it, and like I said, it’s money back in the bank that we can hopefully put back into this team.

You said in a previous interview that you expected the loans to come later in the summer, so getting Michael Forbes now must have been earlier than planned?

We’re excited about it, I have to be honest. We are grateful to West Ham. George and I introduced ourselves to Michael a few weeks ago with the expectation that it would probably be Portugal when he joined us. So for him to be here in the first week or to be at the end of it, it just gives us a few more weeks and for him to get to know the players and get a bit more senior football.

I know he would be training with the first team at West Ham, but to be in it and then play Bath next weekend and then Yeovil, different types of games for him to gain that experience. But straight away, you can see why he led every age group at West Ham and Northern Ireland in youth capacity.

I saw a few players in the stands. Are they all unavailable?

Chrissy (Martin) and Grant (Ward) are fit. We just wanted them to have two weeks of practice before their first game outing. Wardy because of the injuries and the problems we had last season and Chrissy just needs a bit more time. So, nothing to worry about that. Connor (Taylor) is making good progress. (Jack) Hunty won’t be too far.

At the moment I’m really happy because usually even at the end of the first week there might be some odd parts that you’re worried about but the team looks in a good place and that’s a testament to the work that they did and the staff did in the offseason in terms of getting them there. Now, the key and biggest question is, can we keep it up?