'Incredible to witness that first-half, so many mistakes' - Matt Taylor's brutal verdict after Bristol Rovers 1-1 Cheltenham Town

Bristol Rovers new boss Matt Taylor has delivered his verdict after his side were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham Town in League One.

The Robins took the lead just before the half hour mark as George Lloyd beat James Gibbons to the ball on the touchline and ran at the heart of the Gas defence, squaring the ball to Will Goodwin who couldn't miss from six yards out.

"Incredible to witness that first-half so many mistakes," said Taylor. "So many moments where we were in control of our own game and then to see the difference in the second-half it was night and day."

Jack Hunt equalised for the Gas five minutes into the second-half as he lofted his effort over Southwood, following great play on the left wing by Harvey Vale. "We turned what was a poor team at half-time into a much better team and an effective team in the second-half," said the Rovers boss. "We looked like we were going to go on and possibly get more out of the game than a point, but I’d snap your hand off for a point at half-time, that is how poor we were." A game with not a lot of clear chances ended in a point each which upon reflection was probably a fair result with the Gas performing much better in the second phase of the match. "We flipped Tuesday night's performance in terms of a good first-half and poor second-half to what was tonight.

"We were slow with our game and I just felt once we were slow and a little bit stodgy. We were waiting for moments to appear and then all of a sudden you get a lot of things going through your brain and footballers can't have too many thoughts going through their mind, because they become indecisive in terms of how they play and I thought that showed in the first-half."

Boos were echoing around the Mem at the interval as Gasheads made their frustrations heard. "All we asked at half-time was that they take a bit of responsibility, play quicker, brighter tempo. Now no disrespect to Cheltenham they generally slowed the game down and almost the ball was dead. We can't do that, we can't wait for it to be on our terms and then wait for the nice moments in the game, we have to force the issue a little bit and I thought we did that in the second-half generally," added Taylor.

Mother nature caused havoc for both sides throughout the game as the wind blew violenty across the pitch. "The conditions are always difficult, that's not an excuse in terms of that first-half performance. It was a big moment at half-time because you could sense the feel of the whole stadium was so frustrating and so disappointed, as we were and certainly the players needed picking up."

The Rovers must dust themselves down and go again as they have a tough FA Cup second-round trip away at Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.