Manager disappointed with draw in the Midlands...
Rotherham United boss Steve Evans was left frustrated as his side drew 1-1 with Walsall at the Banks’s Stadium.
Evans’ men led through a Daniel Nardiello header in the first half, but Sam Mantom’s strike through a ruck of bodies left the game all square, preserving the Millers’ unbeaten start to the season. However, with two penalty appeals turned down, and what Evans called a ‘scrappy goal’ conceded, he was left ruing the Millers’ luck at the end of the game.
“You don’t beat Wolves and Crewe if you aren’t a good side with good players, which they are,” Evans said following the game. “They’ve got a scrappy goal from our perspective, but we’re not going to hide, we’re going to be entertaining away from home and there will be times when we have to be a bit different but we’ll play and we’ll try and win the game. We’ve had to work hard and we’ve took a point when in a game that we deserved to take all three.”
Neither side really took a firm grip on the game first half, and with chances few and far between, the Millers had a penalty appeal waved away when Nardiello appeared to be through on goal.
“We told the boys to calm down at half time and keep working which we did, and you have to play on scraps which Nardiello did when he gambled on a flick-on and was brought down. He says that Nardiello isn’t in control of the ball (for the first half appeal), and then the whole ground at the end thinks it’s a penalty and a red card in the second half. You can’t assume we’d have scored the penalty but it’s a hard place to come and overall we’ll have better days.”
Striker Tom Eaves was introduced during the second period to make his Millers debut, and although the 6 foot 5” striker never got a clear sighting of goal, Evans was pleased with his first impressions.
“He was lively, Evans added. “I wouldn’t want to play against him and I wouldn’t want my team to play against him because he will cause problems for teams this year.”