Matt Taylor has revealed that Bristol Rovers are still keeping strong tabs on Jed Ward’s development away from the club on loan at Forest Green Rovers with the young goalkeeper enjoying a fantastic start to his season at The New Lawn.
The 21-year-old has played every minute of Forest Green’s National League campaign so far with Steve Cotterill’s side second in the fifith tier having been named pre-season favourites for promotion on the back of consecutive relegations, keeping four clean sheets in nine appearances.
Ward has received widespread praise from many affiliated with the Gloucestershire outfit, particularly after the Rovers academy product produced penalty saves against both Boston United and Solihull Moors. He also played a huge part in creating Forest Green’s late winner against Sutton United, pinging an outstanding long-range pass on the half-volley to a teammate whose eventual cross set up the cliniching goal.
The decision to send the 21-year-old out on loan was initially met with sceptisism from many Gasheads on the back of Ward coming into the Gas first-team last season in the second half of the campaign and seriously impressing.
However, the idea of this loan is to allow the academy product to continue his development while playing as close to 46 league games as possible and the early signs suggest that the decision will pay off.
Asked about keeping watch on Ward’s performances from afar last week, Taylor told BBC Radio Bristol: “Scott [Brown] was at his game on Tuesday. He’s been to a couple of his games. We’ve watched a lot of footage and we expect Jed to perform well there. We expect him to be in one of, if not the top team at that level and great he’s getting those reviews.
“The balance that we’ve got at the moment with Josh Griffiths performing well for ourselves and Jed getting the experience elsewhere. Last season was a year ahead of where we expected Jed to be so this season’s massive in terms of his loan experience, his loan exposure. That’s great but you’ve still got to perform as a footballer so great that those reviews are coming through to us.”
Rovers’ goalkeeping department has been a frequent topic of conversations amongst supporters with West Brom loanee Griffiths, who has essentially come in to be the Gas’ first-choice before Ward returns from his loan, looking set to be amongst the league’s best shot stoppers this term, regardless of his mistake on the weekend.
The 23-year-old was at fault for Wigan Athletic’s third goal in a 4-0 drubbing at The Mem on Saturday, spilling a cross to allow Thelo Aasgaard to tap home but has largely been outstanding with Taylor labelling the goalkeeper as Rovers’ best player in the early stages of the campaign.
However, he’s top of the League One charts for saves made with 23 and his three clean sheets is joint-third in the division. Griffiths also led the way in the third tier for goals prevented prior to the Barnsley and Wigan defeats.
