What Matt Taylor has said about every Bristol Rovers absentee ahead of Cambridge United visit

As we enter the penultimate week of Bristol Rovers' season, the Gas have three more League One matches to play which are now hopefully more exciting prospects after a much-needed victory at Cheltenham Town on Saturday afternoon.

The 3-1 scoreline really should have been more comfortable as Antony Evans missed a penalty at the end of the first-half while former Gas midfielder Liam Sercombe's consolation in the 94th minute denied the visitors a deserved clean sheet.

But three points is three points and with the recent goal drought it was just a relief to see Rovers look more like themselves as they finally secured improvement on last campaign's points tally, reaching 54.

However, the win did come at a cost as Grant Ward was withdrawn after just 22 minutes with what seems to be a reaggravation of the hamstring injury that has seen the midfielder miss the vast majority of the second half of the season. Meanwhile, defender James Wilson also had to be withdrawn with a hamstring issue of his own.

With Matt Taylor making eight changes from the side that started the 2-0 defeat to Reading last Tuesday, there were a handful of notable absentees from the starting 11 and the matchday squad entirely, some of whom have missed the last couple of matches.

Home games against Cambridge United on Tuesday evening and Peterborough United on Saturday afternoon will be Rovers' final two matches at the Mem this season and it does beg the question regarding for who it will be their final opportunity to play in front of the Gas faithful before moving on in the summer.

Here is the latest regarding what the respective situations of each player left out of the starting 11 on Saturday and what Taylor has said recently about them...

Grant Ward

This one is certainly a worry. The midfielder had to come off after just 22 minutes on Saturday and did not look happy, immediately taking of his shirt and heading down the tunnel before posting a picture sat in the stands mid-game on his Instagram story with the caption, "fuming."

Ward's hamstring struggles in the second-half of the campaign have been well documented with Taylor frequently discussing the management of his workload over the final weeks of the season. The 29-year-old made his first appearance since suffering the injury at Norwich City in January in the goalless draw at Fleetwood Town last month but then had to miss the trip to Lincoln City four days later with what sounded like a flare up.

The international break then followed and the midfielder came off the bench in the games against Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town and Bolton Wanderers before starting against Reading and Cheltenham. Regarding Ward, the manager's biggest priority has been to ensure he has him at full fitness in time for pre-season but having to do further recovery over the off-period will prove frustrating to say the least.

You don't want to put words into people's mouths but it certainly sounded like there's a good chance that the midfielder's season is over with Taylor discussing the injuries to Ward and also Wilson post-match, saying: "Both hamstrings. Grant Ward is obviously the more worrying one because of his history and his previous injury. James Wilson, it was tight from quite an early start in the game so I don’t think that there’ll be too much there for Willo but then Tuesday, Saturday comes pretty quickly.

"We’ll assess both of those. We can’t take risks with them moving forward but the Grant Ward one is the bigger worry for us."

James Wilson

Adding to what Taylor said above, although the defender's issue didn't sound as serious as Ward's, you do wonder whether we'll see him again this season given how few matches there are remaining in a short period of time. Wilson just went down and pointed to his hamstring in the second half on Saturday, indicating that he couldn't continue.

The centre-back has certainly seen performances improve lately with the senior head looking more like his usual self by providing a commanding figure at the back. We'll wait until a full prognosis is provided but, bare minimum, it would be a major surprise to see him involved tomorrow night.

Jed Ward

It was certainly a surprise to see the goalkeeper dropped to the bench on Saturday after his excellent run as first choice since January but it was merely for resting purposes according to Taylor who gave Brentford loanee Matt Cox his first start in nearly three months.

The expectation with Ward is that he will be back in the starting line-up for tomorrow night's game against Cambridge with the Rovers manager saying pre-match on Saturday to BBC Radio Bristol: "Jed's played a lot of games. He's a young player and we just felt that a little bit of freshness in terms of his game and Coxy's game and a little bit of input in the team.

"I've done it with a few of them in the last few weeks in terms of we're in a difficult position right now and sometimes the younger ones are the ones you've got to look after every now and then and you've got to take them out of the firing line.

"So nothing in terms of his performance. He'll probably be back in the team on Tuesday. Just a little bit of a breather which every young player needs to hit what's next with a little bit more energy, brightness and gusto."

Jevani Brown

Having started against Reading on Tuesday before being withdrawn at half-time, Brown wasn't involved in the matchday squad for the trip to Cheltenham which was due to not being selected.

"Jevani not included," Taylor revealed when asked about the forward's whereabouts pre-match. "In terms of the energy and brightness aspect and the weekly load, the weekly work, we just thought we'd have Macca on the bench instead of Jevani."

Where things stand currently for Brown in terms of the manager's favour is unclear but it would be a major surprise to see him not included for the final three matches of the campaign with Rovers certainly limited in regards to attacking options. Chris Martin is currently the club's only fit out-and-out striker and, given that he lead the line on Tuesday, Brown is seemingly next in the pecking order up front.

James Connolly

Similarly to Brown, the defender started on Tuesday night before being withdrawn at half-time and then not being involved on Saturday. Taylor wasn't asked about the 22-year-old's whereabouts at Cheltenham so there is a possibility that it was injury-related. However, given that Elkan Baggott returned to the side and Connor Taylor and Luca Hoole were both on the bench, the assumption is that he just wasn't selected.

With Wilson picking up an injury at Whaddon Road though, you would assume that Connolly will now return to the squad for the Cambridge game at the very least with no full prognosis yet to be given regarding the former.

John Marquis

Asked pre-match: "John's hamstring still not right to feature today, is that fair to say?," Taylor replied: "Yeah", having previously revealed that the striker has been feeling tightness in his hamstring following the defeat to Bolton in which he came on as a substitute. The striker has now missed the past two matches and, regarding his situation being out of contract in the summer, the question now relays to whether or not he's played his final game for the football club.

When asked if any players known to be injured won't be seen again this season last Thursday ahead of the Cheltenham game, the Rovers boss explained: "Every day we're finding out about Sam [Finley] and John" before discussing Josh Grant's issue in more depth. The striker certainly doesn't seem to have been ruled out for the final three games but there has been little indication of when we might see him back if we do.

Sam Finley

As stated above, the manager said that Finley is a player Rovers are finding out about every day but the captain has missed the past three matches and is another player whose future is currently uncertain.

Asked about the midfielder's whereabouts after the game on Saturday, Taylor declared: "He’s still got the hip flexor problem. It’s a tightness in there. We have to understand where a couple of them are at in terms of the risk factor because Sam, from probably his first hip injury or slight injury in and around Christmas and January onwards, played through the pain barrier and did himself more damage by doing that. Then we got him rested and back on the pitch and he was fantastic for us but no one’s in a position to do that. Not when it’s going to damage what’s next.

"We’re just assessing him on a daily basis. He’s in and around the training group, starting to move back on the grass but just not near the pitch yet."

Josh Grant

It does appear as though Grant's season is over as stated by Taylor after the defeat at Port Vale last month. Another player whose future is uncertain although it is understood that there is an option to extend by another year in the defender's deal.

As part of his answer to the question about players not playing again before the end of the season, the manager stated: "It's difficult for Josh [Grant] especially because he would probably be borderline for the last game if his rehab went really well, almost a week ahead of schedule if that makes sense? But then the risk-reward of working so hard to get back there and doing everything that he possibly can to possibly breakdown for one game and what the capacity of that game is is a difficult one. We just keep assessing it on a daily basis."

Tristan Crama

Although there hasn't been a fresh update on Crama for a week or so now, the understanding is that the Brentford loanee isn't far away from a return. The Frenchman was mentioned in the same sentence on a few occasions when Taylor was asked about Elkan Baggott's progress after the centre-back picked up a calf issue that saw him miss international duty with Indonesia.

Baggott of course made his return on Saturday and scored the Gas' third goal while Crama has been absent since the 5-0 loss at Lincoln with an ankle issue but the hope is that he will be back in some capacity before the end of the season.

Harry Vaughan

Being brutally honest, it's tough to see the Hull City loanee involved for Rovers again before returning to the Championship side having not featured in a squad since Lincoln. There have been a few bursts of promise from the 20-year-old winger but he has evidently struggled to make the desired impact in a more physical league.

Asked about his situation last Thursday, Taylor admitted: "You can say he is out of favour, but he has just not been selected. He has had a tough time in terms of his input on the game. His contribution to games just hasn't quite happened for him.

“I think it has been a great learning curve for him because in the Championship at Hull, it is a cleaner game and training environment and there are cleaner moments at different stages. Whereas the game here seems to have landed on him at our level, it would be really interesting to see if he can go back to Hull and affect their first-team, or if he has to go out on loan and learn a different way and what we do does differently.

"At times his game has just broken down with what lower league football tends to be, which is a little bit of back and forth and a little bit of it landing on you and a little bit of body against you, but he's such a talent and such a good lad as well and he can still affect it in the next four games.”