Instead, he aimed for the space between its left shoulder and his head. So the attack was diagonal, not vertical. This meant that if the goblin would dodge, it had to dodge away from the strike and not towards. This was effectively narrowing its options.
That's exactly what happened. The goblin dashed to his left in order to avoid the attack. If he had another hand, he would have used shield bash to stagger the goblin as it dodged. Unfortunately, he couldn't, so he used the next best thing.
He kicked the goblin with his left foot. His foot struck it in the chest and made it cry out in pain. Its pain was short-lived because a blade stabbed into its chest.
Taylor removed the sword from its chest and swung it again. He repeated the diagonal attack, aiming for its neck. This time it couldn't dodge. So the sword cut off its head.
Taylor smiled to himself and said, "That's how it's done. It is just a goblin, and I am better than a goblin."