Steve Evans told www.themillers.co.uk
Millers boss Steve Evans was left ruing missed chances after his side had to settle for a goalless draw against Carlisle United at New York Stadium.The hosts dominated the game, in which Carlisle’s Conor Townsend was dismissed on the stroke of half-time for a second bookable offence, but were unable to capitalise on the numerous chances they created:
“It was very frustrating,” said Evans. “If you look at the stats we’ve had 18 efforts at goal, obviously it was different in the second half against ten men and we’ve got the ball in the box but we’ve lacked a bit of quality in the final third.
“I remember looking once or twice when we’ve they’ve scraped things off the line and had ricochets go in their favour but we’ve got to be better than that.”
However, Evans did reserve special praise for the Cumbrians’ industry that helped ensure they returned north with a share of the spoils:
“At the end of the day when you go in at 0-0 and you’re down to ten men you’re going to defend and they deserve enormous credit because they’ve given their manager all they’ve got. They put their bodies on the line and they’ve scrapped and they’ve scraped and kicked balls off the line and when you see that you think we’ll take the point and move onto Coventry.”
The Millers boss did take time to praise the work rate of his team despite the fact they were unable to convert their chances:
“It’s an opportunity missed, but every game we play and don’t pick up maximum points from we consider it an opportunity missed. The effort and the commitment and the passion was up there. Today compared to last week we lacked that quality in the final third, but we had that against Bradford and we had it again Stevenage. We didn’t play with any zip in the final third and if you don’t score goals, but saying that we’ve had four or five good chances.
“We’ve dominated from start to finish in terms of statistics and possession but we’ve just lacked the quality in the final third."