Evans ‘Absolutely Tremendous To Be Back’

Rotherham United got a point for Steve Evans this afternoon on his first game back in the dugout at the New York Stadium.

Speaking to the Official Site the Millers Boss’s first thoughts were with the gentleman who was taken ill with the game just a few minutes old saying, ‘I asked at half-time and again at the end of the game how he was and we understand that he’s critical and I’m sure every Miller, every football supporter will come together with their thoughts and prayers with him and hopefully he comes through.’

Going on to talk about the teams performance in the goalless draw, Steve said, ‘I thought it was excellent.

‘We’re a big believer not just in how it looks on the eye, but also in the stats and based on distances, high speeds and intensities I think we are almost twenty per cent up on every player than the rest of the season which is to their credit.

‘I think we probably lacked a little bit of quality, a little bit of luck in the final third when we really had opportunities to hurt them with balls in the box. But that might seem critical given the key players we lost again but the boys who we brought off the bench put in big performances.

‘I thought Jordan (Hugill) was absolutely brilliant today but In the end his legs fell off him. And what a difference it makes when you’ve got a player who is class on the field but I could keep going like my two centre-backs, (Lee) Peltier who the medical staff told me he could only last sixty minutes and he’s in there flat on his back. And what a save from my goalkeeper when you needed it, although, other than that, to be fair, Viktor (Johansson) had nothing to do.

‘I’m disappointed that we only came away with a point but I’ve got to be immensely proud that a lot of these players who we asked them for a workman like reaction and I think we got that today. You’ve only got to look at the quality that not only Birmingham started with today, but you’ve got eight to ten million pound players coming off the bench.

‘The last fifteen minutes of the game was like a basketball game – we attack, they attack – and had we a call for a penalty on Tom Eaves, well I don’t know, but he certainly got manhandled. But it might have been harsh and I think Keith Stroud has always been a competent referee.’

Asked what it was like being back, Steve replied, ‘Absolutely tremendous. The reception from the fans all around the ground was phenomenal and thank-you to every Miller for that.’