Steve Evans post Cambridge United...
Millers boss Steve Evans was left delighted with his side’s reaction to Saturday’s opening day defeat to MK Dons which saw them book their place in the second round of the Capital One Cup with a 1-0 win over Cambridge United.It was a strong Cambridge United side that provided the opposition on Tuesday night boasting the likes of Luke Berry and Elliott Omozusi amongst their ranks, with former Miller Conor Newton assuming a place on the U’s bench but the hosts overcame the challenge to put their name in the hat for round two.
“We possibly should have won by three or four but there’s a lot of pleasing aspects to tonight.” Evans beamed.
“I think there were a lot of people hurting from Saturday in terms of sheer adrenaline and I think we deployed that in abundance tonight and we saw what reception the players gave the supporters at the end.”
Boss Evans reserved special praise for goalscorer Jordan Bowery who was handed his first start of the 2015/16 campaign after turning in a number of impressive performances during the close season and believes he can build on tonight’s display.
“It was good to see Jordan Bowery get a goal. He didn’t win many headers or keep possession for us enough in the first half but he pops up and gets a goal that takes us through.”
“Everyone at the football club loves Jordan and he didn’t even have enough aggression in his play tonight again. If he can get that in his game some weeks he will be unplayable.”
The Millers’ chief opted to pair the former Aston Villa frontman with Matt Derbyshire in attack, with Danny Ward introduced as a second half substitute. Evans is now left with a selection headache ahead of the trip to Nottingham Forest at the weekend but is delighted with his options across the pitch.
“I thought him [Bowery] and Matt [Derbyshire] combined really well and Danny Ward looked more like himself when he came on as well.
“There were some excellent performances and some performances from people that we needed to get some game time. It was good to see Lewis Buxton get 70 minutes and he adds something to what we’ve got and it was good to see Joe Newell turn in another stunning performance."