Joe Mattock talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
Rotherham United defender Joe Mattock insists he and his teammates are desperate to bounce back from their defeat at Cardiff City last weekend and set the record straight as they travel to the capital to take on Brentford on Saturday.The Millers’ survival hopes were dealt a blow in South Wales as former boss Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds ran out comfortable victors, but the former Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City operator is keen to put the disappointment behind him and focus his energy on the upcoming clash in the capital.
“We've just got to get back on the training field and get back to basics,” Mattock told www.themillers.co.uk.
“It's obviously disappointing on the back of a 5-0 loss and it hurts all the players and staff, but there's no point in dwelling on it because that's not going to get us anywhere and it's not what the fans want to see either.
“The fans want to see us giving 110% effort and going into the next game on top.”
The 26-year-old continued to add that he believes the Millers can embark on a similar run to the one that saw them stave off relegation at the end of last season and explained that he fears no opposition in front of the home crowd at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
“I've said this to a few people now, but we were in a similar situation last season, maybe we were not bottom, but you don't know what can happen in this league,” Mattock explained.
“We probably said to ourselves that Cardiff was a chance to get some points on the board when we looked at the next few games, but who is to say that we can't go down to Brentford and put on a performance and end up nicking a win.
“That's three points and then we've got Villa and Brighton coming up, but they're both at home and to be honest, I fancy us against anyone at home and I don't care who comes here.”
The full back, who has operated further forward in recent weeks following the arrival of Ben Purrington, insists he and his teammates need to have more self-belief and need to take advantage of spells in game when they are enjoying the majority of the possession.
“Every game, especially since Warney has taken charge, we've never been battered by teams or outplayed. I think in quite a lot of the games, particularly in the first half, we've been on top,” Mattock added.
“We just don't seem to get that goal or have that cutting edge to stay on top and it always seems that when we come out for the second half, other teams switch it on and I think what we've got to learn to do is deal with that a bit better collectively as a team.
“If we can just maybe say to each other to stay solid for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and see out the waves of attack, we might come out with the three points a bit more often.
“It's a confidence thing as well and it's almost becoming a habit. It's not because we've got bad players, because we have got good players."