Manager Steve Evans reflects on the defeat at Northampton Town...
Steve Evans said this morning that last night's 2-1 defeat away to Northampton Town was hard to accept given the sheer dominance his team enjoyed in the match.
The Millers had looked on top when against the run of play they were caught on the counter attack with Alex Nicholls scoring late on to secure the points for the home side.
Speaking exclusively to www.themillers.co.uk this morning Steve said: ''Sometimes when you watch a DVD of the match it is different to what you think you have seen but with this match at Northampton we got it right.
''We did not start the match well and deserved to go a goal down. A couple of the lads did not play to the game plan in the first 25 minutes and it knocked our team shape completely out. However, we managed to get those two lads focused and from then on till the end of the match we where by a country mile the better team.
The statistics will back up the managers claims with the Millers having 60% possession throughout the match (78% in the final 20 minutes), 23 efforts on the Northampton goal, 15 of those being on target and that tops any team in English football last night.
''This was a much improved performance from the one we put in when we beat Burton Albion on Saturday. We passed the ball effectively; we had 23 efforts on there goal and hit the target 15 times so we must give credit to the home goalkeeper who had an inspired night.
''We have to take this defeat on the chin and learn plenty from it. I can say now we will play much worse and win matches whereas I cannot see Northampton getting battered like that for over an hour and winning, football really is a strange business at times.
''I asked my lads to compete with Northampton physically and to a man we done that. Everyone in the ground last night knows we should have won the match but it went against us and we need to put it behind us.
''We must now turn our sole focus to Chesterfield on Saturday and we know how difficult that is going to be. Like Northampton and Burton they are big promotion challengers and I respect there manager who I think does a great job.
''I said after Burton Albion on Saturday that we had a very tough first 10 matches of the season and in that period we will learn so much. What I do know is that if we come through that run of fixtures and be challenging towards the top we will be challenging at the end of the season.
''Against Burton we played well and at Northampton we where superb for 65 minutes but we will need to deliver that for 95 minutes at Chesterfield on Saturday to collect all the three points on offer. We did not deserve what happened last night but let us turn the pain we feel this morning into a positive energy on Saturday.
''We will take a fantastic support with us to Chesterfield just as we did to Northampton last night. Those that travelled last night know we produced some real quality but like me when you dominate like that they know we should win, that is the sole objective on Saturday.''