Paul Warne post Blackburn...
Interim Manager Paul Warne gave his thoughts on today’s 1-1 draw between the Millers and Blackburn Rovers at the AESSEAL New York Stadium on a bitterly cold afternoon.
“Obviously, being one-nil up I was disappointed to concede from a corner late on because I thought we defended set-pieces reasonably well today,” said Warne. “We improved as the game went on because I thought we were poor in the first half.
“We were an attacking threat in the second half and the lads took on the information we gave them at half time. We changed it and tried to give them a bit of confidence. Overall, I’m disappointed because it could have been better. But, to take a point after a few defeats is good.”
After a goalless first half, Jon Taylor’s deflected effort separated the sides two minutes into the second period, but the visitors hit back with six minutes left through a Stephen Kelly own goal.
“The league doesn’t lie,” continued Warne. “We’re at the bottom and we concede goals. We’re desperate to keep clean sheets so scoring one goal isn’t enough. When we scored I didn’t go crazy on the sideline because I was still in a bad mood from half time, to be honest. I knew that we needed another one (goal) to be a bit more comfortable. I don’t know how many corners we had in the second half.
“I thought we played well in the second half to justify a win. Unfortunately for us they scored from a corner late on and we share the points.
“I’ve looked at it (Blackburn equaliser) and I don’t think it’s a foul. The lads feel it was a foul but I’m not going to stand here and lie. I think we should have cleared it and we didn’t, so we get punished for that.”
With the visit of Huddersfield Town just three days away, Warne is doing everything in his power to keep spirits up in order to claim as many points possible.
“It’s difficult because we need to win our home games” he continued. “I set the team up to try and win today and I changed the system after 20 minutes to go more aggressive and more attacking.
“It is a difficult challenge but I try and do it with a smile on my face. I’ll pick the lads up again tomorrow and dust them down ready for another home game on Tuesday. If we can pick up points and teams above us don’t, it’s a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ but I have to produce a team to put on a performance and keep the fans pleased. They’ll go home today reasonably happy with the performance in the second half.
“We can pick up points. It’s difficult but the lads have got to believe. Hopefully, we’ll get a better result on Tuesday night.”