Steve Evans talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
We caught up with manager Steve Evans this morning and as part of our weekly feature we put a number of key questions to him, as always he was open and honest with his answers.With the benefit of now having watched a DVD of yesterday's match away at Aldershot Town, what are your thoughts on the action?
First let me very clear, having now watched a re-run of the match, everything I said after the match yesterday I standby this morning.
In every match you play, if on a man-to-man basis you do not match the effort and desire of the opposition you will get beat.
We started the match in a real positive way and Nardiello should score a simple chance that was created for him.
They then score two goals that we gifted them. For the first Aldershot goal Nardiello shirks a challenge and from the cross the lad gets an easy chance, he took it. For their second goal Ben Pringle simply does not match his runner and subsequently has to give away a cheap free-kick. From that Mark Bradley gets caught on the wrong side of the attacker, which again was poor defending.
The third Aldershot goal was a yard offside and a poor decision from the assistant referee and it came at a time when we were we'll on top of the match.
There is no positives at all for me to take this morning and I am hurting but it is not about getting down, it is all about getting up and fighting. We now need to get on the training ground and prepare for Barnet next Saturday that is all that now matters.
Let me finish the answer to the question by wishing Aldershot Town every success in the FA Cup, to a man they gave everything they had, in that area we failed and that is the hardest thing to take.
Can you update us on the current injury situation?
Yes of course. We came through yesterday with no further knocks so that is a positive although we will now miss Kari Arnason for one match as he will be suspended.
Dale Tonge, Lionel Ainsworth and David Noble will all play in a reserve training ground match this week against Sheffield Wednesday. It will also be a good chance to get some match time into a few of the players who have been on the first-team bench of late and now in need of minutes on the pitch.
Craig Morgan is now a week away from coming back to the group for full training and possibly another 10 days away after that before he will be ready to return to action.
Yesterday a number of League Two matches went ahead, what was your take on a mixed bag of results?
In large the results went as I expected them. Gillingham beat Bristol Rovers and Port Vale beat Plymouth Argyle, it is interesting that they both play each other next Saturday.
We are third in the league table, in the automatic promotion places and we know we can do so much better in the second half of the season but believe me you have to earn it. We have a game in hand now over many others nut it counts for nothing unless you get something from it.
I fully expected us to finish the day in fifth or sixth position but with Bradford losing to Barnet and Fleetwood losing to Northampton it proved to be on the whole a good day in the league for us. League Two is a real tough competition, it is an unforgiving marathon and the league table does not tell a lie at the end of the season.
Are you expecting to do any business this week in respect of new players arriving or players leaving on loan or permanent?
I am hopeful more than confident of adding a wide player but I will know more about that on Tuesday or Wednesday.
As for players leaving I will again give the option to two or three players to go on loan to get some first-team competitive action, it is something they need to do and not sit here waiting to play for us, they are not ready for that.
This week I also have to finalise a decision in relation to extending our loan players. All the lads have indicated they would like to stay at the Millers, but I need to look in detail at the squad and the playing options but I can say now I am delighted with all of them.
Next Saturday we face Barnet at home on a day when League Two has a number of big fixtures, what can we expect?
That is a very good question because many will just expect us to turn up and win but be warned, they are now a different team with a new manager in charge.
Yesterday they beat Bradford, before that they beat Gillingham and drew at Exeter, that is the size of our task.
We will need a strong vocal support behind us, next Saturday is a big day in League Two and there will be big winners and losers!
Today we are down but tomorrow we must rise and fight with the vigour that promoted teams do. I believe in our squad but it takes everyone in every match we play to fight for everything, drop it an inch and you pay a price!
Roll on next Saturday, I wish it was today!!!