Steve Evans talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
The manager joined us this afternoon to reflect on yesterday's FA Cup victory over high flying League One side Stevenage FC and give his reaction to the second round draw.First may we start by asking for your thoughts given you now have had time to reflect on the FA Cup win over a very good Stevenage FC yesterday?
Everyone who attended will have gone away and thought that it was a great cup tie. There is no doubt that we were by far the best team on the day and the final scoreline does not state the dominance we had for the majority of the match.
In my opinion Stevenage FC are an excellent team. As a unit they have an excellent manager, good players, are well organised and you can see why they will fight for promotion to the Championship, so to beat them the way we did speaks volumes for our performance.
Our lads had lots of energy, we had passion and commitment plus the quality of our passing play was outstanding. There is some real quality in our squad and we will work hard to add and develop this as we go forward.
Not many people outside Rotherham would have given us a chance in this cup tie but as I have often said I really do believe in these players and of course the staff I have, who it has to be said, do a brilliant job.
Have we got through the match injury free and can you update us on the current injured players?
Thankfully it looks like all the lads who played yesterday will train this morning and have come through the battle yesterday unscathed.
As for the injured players it looks like Shearer (six weeks), Tonge (10 weeks), Ainsworth (10 weeks), and Noble (two weeks). It looks likely that Nardiello will train with the rest of the squad today, if not it should definitely be tomorrow which of course would put him in contention for our match at Fleetwood on Tuesday night.
How did you think our new loan signing Jamie Devitt performed?
I thought the young man was excellent until he got very tired around the 70 minute mark. I expected that to happen as he has not been playing at first-team level and the pace of the game yesterday compared to reserve football is night and day.
The lad has great ability and he works really hard, that joint combination in a player will do for me. I would also like to say I was delighted with Michael O' Connor when he came on, he looked like the top footballer he is, but when he works as hard as he has done in the last 10 days and his focus in spot on you simply get a top player in return because he has fantastic ability.
What are your thoughts on drawing Notts County at home in the second round of the FA Cup?
We have been drawn at home against a quality team who are unbeatable away from home. I think you will find they are unbeaten away from home in 19 matches and have just set a new club record, now that is impressive for what is the oldest league club in English football. Their results show they are a much better team away from home so that again makes it even more interesting for everyone.
I have watched County on a few occasions this season. They have a good manager and he has put a very talented squad in place, so this is another huge ask for my lads but as I have said many times I really do believe in them. I would like to think the television cameras will see this as a 'must show live' match, it has all the ingredients to be a cracker plus of course our new stadium deserves the coverage, the New York Stadium is simply magnificent.
Moving back to the League Two campaign, are you considering changes for the match at Fleetwood Town on Tuesday?
Yes, there is every chance that will happen. The lads put so much into yesterday's encounter and with some that has to be taken into consideration. I will look at the heart rate data and the dehydration analysis after training tomorrow before I make a final decision.
We also have to look at how fit Daniel Nardiello is but he trained this morning and I am told he came through fine but I will look at him again tomorrow.
You stated you are keen to strengthen the squad, can we expect any new additions or indeed any players moving out this week?
We are working really hard to make this happen but I must again add that I will only bring in players who make us better or give us something we do not already have in the group.
I would like to get at least two new players in and the Chairman knows who I want; he has been and is incredibly supportive in making sure we improve the team as and when we can. We will hopefully get some business done but given the quality of squad we have it is really difficult. I will never stop short of wanting to give our magnificent Millers’ supporters the best team I possibly can.
It is most likely I will allow a couple of players to go out on loan and get some competitive first team action but let us think about that after we have been to Fleetwood on Tuesday. As and when I have anything to tell the supporters I will let them know, I promised I would do this and that will not change.