Town midfielder Jack Taylor says Town reacted strongly to being pegged back as the Blues booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 3-1 victory over 10-man AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane.

Jack Reeves’s penalty restored parity after Josh Davison’s own goal had given Town an early lead, but Axel Tuanzebe’s first senior goal and Taylor’s late strike ensured the Blues safely beat League Two opposition.

Taylor says Town needed to take the tie as they would any other fixture in order to progress to the fourth round for the second successive season for the first time since 2010.

“They’re always tough games when you come to teams lower down [in the pyramid],” he said. “The other team come in as the underdogs and things normally go their way, everyone’s been on the other side where teams are playing those higher up.

“There is magic in the FA Cup, you need to come out, be strong and resilient and take it as seriously as a league game.

“Our game plan was to see how they were setting up and, if they do come to press, to play past the press and try and commit more bodies on the other side of the pitch to move the ball more quickly.
“But they blocked off the middle for a lot of it so we had to work round the outsides, which we did quite well. We got crosses and numbers into the box and created a lot of chances today.

“The early goal set the tone for the game and makes them react. We didn’t know whether they would sit back the whole game, play a low block and be hard to beat. It opened up the game and they’ve got to come out a little more, which in the end went in our favour.

“We started off really well. We pinned them back, scored from a set piece, which was good. Then I give the penalty away, which I thought was a bit harsh, but you’ve got to react and we reacted in the right way by getting the goal before half-time. I’m glad we’re through.”

The hosts’ goal came from the penalty spot, awarded after Taylor handled the ball with a high arm following a Dons corner.

“I wasn’t really looking at the ball,” he said. “I was just marking my man who tried to peel off round the back post.

“By the time I turned around he had given the pen. I’m not sure if it hit him and then hit my hand, but it definitely hit my hand so in this day and age it probably was a penalty, but there wasn’t a lot I could have done about it.”

So far this season, Taylor has been limited to just five starts in the league due to the form of midfield duo Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo.

The addition of Lewis Travis on loan from Blackburn Rovers earlier this week adds further depth to an area of the field that also includes the versatile Dominic Ball and Cameron Humphreys.

While he may not have played as much as he would have liked, Taylor says it is up to individuals to show what they are capable of when given the opportunity, which may arise given Morsy’s upcoming two-match ban in the league.

He said: “All the successful teams in the world, Man City for example, have got people who are dropping out of form and got someone else who can jump in and do exactly the same job. It’s a healthy environment to be in.

“Every player wants to play. I’ve just got to prove every time I’m on the pitch that I deserve my spot every week. I’m pleased with how it went today. Suspensions and injuries happen, that’s why the lads need the minutes to step in when needed.

“I don’t know much about [Travis] and I’ve not met him. We’ll see what he’s like on Monday and we’ll have to compete for our spots.”

Victory ended a run of five matches without a win for the Blues during the Christmas and New Year period, a spell of difficult games which Taylor is pleased to see come to an end.

“We had tough games when you look into it,” he said. “Even at the start of the season you look at Christmas time and you think it’s a tough couple of days, especially with Leeds then Leicester.

“We’ve come out strong even though we didn’t get the results we wanted, some of the performances were promising. We got minutes into the legs and we haven’t got that many injuries.

“Pleased to see the back of it and we’ve got a lot of training weeks now to improve on the training field.

“Today was a different competition but it’s the same players and you’ve got to have the habit of winning every week.

“We came here to win and win as comfortably as we could. But we know what the FA Cup is, some weeks it won’t go your way, but if we keep grafting I think we’ll keep winning.”

After a promising run in the Carabao Cup earlier in the season, Taylor is not taking the importance of having another run in a cup competition for granted.

The 25-year-old said: “The whole squad need minutes and you don’t want to have free weeks all the time, you want to stack up the games and make sure everyone is ready for the run-in. It’s good to have cup runs as you can get a big boy away which hopefully we’ll get.”

Asked who he wanted in Monday’s draw, the former Peterborough United man responded: “[Manchester] United away, if they beat Wigan!”

Another new face in this week is winger Jeremy Sarmiento, who signed on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion and made his debut off the bench against the Dons.

“He’s a really good young lad,” Taylor said of the Ecuadorian. “More of the lads know him from last year and I heard he had a bad injury, so it’s good to see him back and involved.”

Taylor’s 89th minute goal was his fifth of the season and his third in cup competitions so far this season.

He said: “I had more licence to get forward and arrive into the box, especially when they went down to 10 men. I’m glad it fell at my feet.

“I’m on five now, hopefully I can get to double figures because it’s a big part of my game. You need numbers from all around the pitch, we’ve shown this year with everyone scoring goals, so long may it continue.”

Photo: TWTD

Karlosfandangal added 17:52 - Jan 6 Need to put the chances away… could not see Town losing but a mistake or a wonder goal and we could have been in trouble at 2-1… job done and back to winning ways. On a different subject has Morsy been credited with goal at Leicester, I see some sources have it as an OG and others as Morsy
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