Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor saw a change in formation pay off spectacularly as his side came from two goals down to defeat play-off-chasing Stevenage 3-2 in a thriller at the Lamex Stadium.
The Pirates began the game playing 3-4-3 but found themselves in deep trouble before Taylor replaced defender Elkan Baggott with winger Scott Sinclair after 28 minutes.
With four at the back, Rovers came surging back against a side pushing for the play-offs in League One, with a wonderful strike from captain Antony Evans completing a memorable turnaround.
Taylor said: “It could have been [anyone to come off], but when you change from a back three to a back four you take off one of your centre-halves.
“James Wilson’s, similar to Scotty’s, experience shone as the game went on and Tristan [Crama] has got good legs as well.
“I hope he [Baggott] understands it, I don’t think he’ll like it – nobody likes being dragged – but it was very much needs must in that moment.
“We made changes, personnel and formation-wise, that seemed to settle them a little bit and gave us a better out in terms of the game, and then we started to play.
“Once we started to play, we needed a little bit more to believe in and LT’s [Luke Thomas] moment was a big moment for us because that gave us more belief and more feeling that we were in the game, and then two quality goals.”
Stevenage led 2-0 after 24 minutes through Kane Hemmings’ close-range finish and Jake Forster-Caskey, but Bristol Rovers had a lifeline when Thomas bent a superb effort into the bottom corner.
Evans then set up Chris Martin for the equaliser before smashing in what turned out to be the winner from 25 yards, before Kamil Conteh was sent off in stoppage time for the Pirates.
Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “We just got a little bit complacent – well, a lot complacent.
“They get the goal completely against the run of play to bring themselves back into the game, we started on the front foot, I think we were very comfortable at half-time.
“I think we were comfortable at the start of the second half, there’s no issues in the game.
“I think there’s a big decision in the game – their boy Evans, who’s a really good player, scores a great goal and makes one, he should be off.
“He’s committed a number of fouls, but one in particular on the edge of their box.
“They get the [second] goal because we let a really good striker get across us and score a goal and the third goal was a great strike, but it’s fair to say in the second half we were way off the pace.”
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