Taylor: We can raise our game and challenge at top

Sep 22 2007 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

GARETH TAYLOR expects standards to rise right across the spectrum of Coca-Cola League One football in the new campaign.

And the experienced striker believes Tranmere are capable of raising their own game from last season’s levels to sustain a stronger push for promotion this time around.

“I think we have a squad here to mount a real challenge,” Taylor said.

“When the injuries and suspensions hit, as they did last year, we have more strength in depth to deal with it.”

Taylor, 34, a veteran of more than a dozen campaigns with Bristol Rovers, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Burnley and Tranmere suspects Rovers missed an opportunity in an unexceptional division in 2006-07.

He said: “I honestly thought we had a really good opportunity last year in a division without an outstanding side.

“At the start a lot of people predicted Nottingham Forest, with all their resources, would dominate the division. They were up there for a while then fell away.

“This season I think it’s going to be tougher. A lot of clubs are going for it in terms of spending money on buying players. There are some good teams around. I would expect Luton to be up there, even though results have not gone their way so far.”

Taylor says he can see encouraging signs in Tranmere’s strong start.

Ronnie Moore’s team head for Cheltenham this afternoon with four wins taken from the opening six games. The first-day home defeat to Leeds is the only serious blemish on the league record so far.

That record would have looked less impressive if Tranmere had not scored two goals in the last seven minutes to snatch a 2-1 comeback victory over Luton at Prenton Park last weekend.

“Winning a game like that was a good sign of what we can do this season,” Taylor said.

“Coming from behind is something we struggled to do right through last season. The gaffer said it at half-time on Friday and we all knew it. It was a great show of character to win the game in the last 10 minutes.”

The introduction of summer signings Danny Coyne, Ben Chorley, Antony Kay and Adnan Ahmed made a difference not just to the balance of the squad but also to the mentality, Taylor says.

“There is certainly more strength in depth in areas where we did not have it last season,” he said.

“The new players have done well, not just on the pitch but off it. You need a good dressing-room. I did not think we had a problem with that last season but you need characters in there.”

Taylor continued: “When the team is winning it is not a problem at all. You are put under the test when things don’t go so well. I can’t really see that being a problem for us this season because we have players here who want to do well.

“We made a good start but we know we will hit a bad spell sooner or later. It is how quickly we can come out of it. It’s important we recover quicker than we did last season.”

Taylor played more than 40 senior games for Tranmere last season but made a stuttering start to this campaign after suffering injury set-backs in the pre-season period. With manager Moore enjoying the luxury of having four strikers to choose from, Taylor had to wait until the end of August for his first senior start, then suffered a broken rib in Tranmere’s 2-0 home win over Brighton.

He returned three weeks later to lead the line against Luton, although his 70-minute contribution was over by the time Curran and Kay plundered the late goals.

Taylor said: “I could not train for the first week after the injury and then I was running around with my arm in the air during the second.

“Last week Les Parry said I could join in with the rest of the players in training and I was confident about playing on Friday night.”

Taylor’s performance earned words of warm appreciation from Moore, who may well start him against Cheltenham.

The centre forward said: “Cheltenham can be a very awkward team to play against, particularly at their place.

“John Ward was the manager at Bristol Rovers in my early days there and he has a great knowledge of the game. He knows how to get the best out of players and I know they will make it tough for us.”