Rotherham United Manager Paul Warne said that the ‘spirit’ of his lads this season had been amazing’.
He told the Radio Sheffield, ‘They’ve trained really well all week and wanted to finish on a high. I don’t think the lads had much more to give and for that I am hugely proud and I think the fans appreciated it too.
Speaking after the two-one home defeat to Middlesbrough the Millers Boss said, ‘I thought we were the better team for the first twenty minutes but didn’t take our chances. If we’d have nicked a draw I don’t think there would have been many complaints.’
Warney is right – we could easily have got a draw yesterday. A first penalty claim that fell on deaf ears, though the linesman in front of the Family Stand, will now know what our fans think of him, a hit post from substitute Kyle Vassell and a number of chances that went just wide, just over – it could all have been so different.
But, how many times have we said this season alone ‘we have to take our chances’? You aren’t going to get that many in the Championship and when you do we really need someone on the end of the ball who can get it in, whether it be a free-kick, a tap-in, a long-range shot, a header. I’m afraid a lot of the season we Millers fans spent time with head in our hands as another chance had gone begging.
Does that mean I want a new striker? Not particularly. I think we have to look at the goals against column and get someone in to help at that end of the pitch. Does it mean I would like two up front? For me, always. Does it mean I’d like to leave at least two back when the opposition get corners or free-kicks around our box. Too right I would.
But we can all be critics. We can all have a moan and a groan and a ‘what on earth is he doing’ when a sub comes on we don’t think should be coming on. And I think that’s OK as long as we remember to keep encouraging the players, especially when they perhaps aren’t doing that well.
I couldn’t stay behind and show my appreciation for the players yesterday – just one of those busy days for me – but, looking at ‘photo’s of the players walking round after the game, it looks like quite a few did which is great.
At least next season our last game of the season will be on a Saturday at 3.00pm . . . . or will it?
