Rotherham United Manager Paul Warne told iFOLLOW that the conditions at the Priestfield Stadium this evening didn’t really suit the way the Millers played but thought his players performed well.
‘I think we played the conditions as well as we could,’ the Millers Boss said after the one-nil victory. ‘The conditions didn’t really suit our play.
‘I thought we deserved the lead at half-time and had enough chances in the second half to reduce my heart rate by about fifty beats. We didn’t get a second goal and then they had a free-kick late on which we defended really well.
‘I’m not going to be super critical of my strikers. Smudge’s (Michael Smith) work rate is phenomenal but the chance he missed he should probably have gone with his head when he chose his foot. On another day Willo (Ryan Williams) could have had a couple. I thought Tayls (Jon Taylor) was excellent tonight and a constant threat.
‘It was more difficult for us than it should have been but we are really pleased to get on the bus with a win.
‘Gillingham have some real physical force and strength so we brought Semi (Ajayi) on as a sitting midfielder to give us a bit more height which made us a little more solid. They’ve got a massive physical presence up top and I thought Ikie (Michael Ihiekwe) and Woody (Richard Wood) were outstanding. There wasn’t a bad performance tonight.
‘I thought the lads performed really well away from home at a difficult place to come to. A hundred and sixty plus fans came tonight and it’s a long way to come on a Tuesday night so that’s impressive and we really appreciate what they’ve done tonight and at Wigan.
‘That’s two away games against two good teams and to get four points is really good for us.’
Going on to talk about a play-off place, Warney said, ‘I don’t think we’ve done it yet but if we get a win on Saturday then we must be getting close. We feel like we’re close but until we’re actually in there we don’t have anything to celebrate yet.’
