Taylor ‘We Have To Enjoy This’

Rotherham United Manager Matt Taylor was proud of everyone of his Millers as a one-nil win over Middlesbrough saw them secure their place in the Championship for next season.

Speaking after the home win to Radio Sheffield the Millers Boss said that staying up meant a lot to him personally saying, ‘but it’s about the football club, that group of players and the supporters. To a man they have stood up and been counted and should be so so proud.

‘We haven’t’ done it comfortably but have done it with a game to spare.’

And that is probably what us, the fans, could only expect. We’ve fought in games and lost, we’ve had injuries upon injuries and yet some of those injured players have put themselves on the line when they probably, in fairness, shouldn’t have done and yes, we’ve had a little bit of luck on the way.

‘We had a couple of hairy moments against quality opposition,’ the Millers Boss said about today’s game, ‘there was Woody clearance off the line, Viktor’s save. We knew where we were on that pitch today in terms of having to pin them back and it was one moment of quality in that second half which was because we were still in the game which is something we haven’t been able to say in the last couple of weeks. It came down to defending set-pieces which we did fantastically well and I think Viktor only had one save to make. He has been outstanding and for him to keep a clean sheet in the biggest game of the season he was in tears at the end because it means a lot to him.’

It was Hakeem Odoffin’s goal just minutes into the second half that gave Rotherham the win today with his Manager saying, ‘ I’m so pleased for Haks , the community player of the year for the league last week, he’s someone who conducts himself well whether he’s playing or not. He practices those moments and that split second when you were waiting for it to hit the back of the net.

‘The first half was just our season in a nutshell. Chieo (Ogbene) was starting to break into a space and was brought down which is a muscle injury then Shane (Ferguson) with his groin as well – you couldn’t write that script.’

Going on to talk about next season, Matt said, ‘I’ve got plans that people know about but it’s going to take time and needs investment and infrastructure to build as well as a bit of belief. But that’s to come and we have to enjoy this.’