Steve Evans post MK Dons...
Rotherham United manager Steve Evans was left ruing his side’s missed chances after they slipped to a 4-1 defeat to MK Dons on the opening day of the 2015/16 campaign.
The Millers started brightly at AESSEAL New York Stadium but fell behind when Rob Hall bundled the visitors in front from close range, before Matt Derbyshire levelled with a header minutes later.
Evans’ men then took the bull by the horns and launched an onslaught on the MK Dons defence which saw them forced to repel a number of attacks with Aidy White coming closest for the Millers. However, Karl Robinson’s men repelled their efforts and went on to record victory after a resolute display.
“I think if you don’t defend right and take chances at the key stages of the match it’s always going to be tough,” he conceded.
“Our defending wasn’t good enough but at 1-1 it looked like there was only one team in the ground that was going to go on and score a couple of goals but you can’t miss the chances and open goals that we’ve missed and expect to win a game.
“We got a good goal from Matt from a set piece that we’ve worked on for a couple of days and then we’ve laid siege to their goal. Matt then gets another chance that he doesn’t take and then they’ve gone up the other end and within five minutes a deflection puts them 2-1 up and then we’ve had some naïve defending and gone 3-1 down.”
Before the game Evans named his captain for the season with Greg Halford the man charged with taking the armband. However, the Millers’ boss insists that he won’t be alone in leading the team.
“We’ve said that Greg will be the captain and he’ll be ably supported by Danny Collins. Danny’s a very experienced man in a captaincy role and Greg will lead it but he’ll be closely assisted by Danny,” he explained.
With a Capital One Cup clash with Cambridge United on the horizon Evans is keen to get his players ready for the visit of Richard Money’s men by dissecting the Millers’ performance against MK Dons:
“Its our job as a coaching staff to sit down with the players on the training ground tomorrow and look at it with some clarity. We’ll get back on the training ground on Monday and prepare for Cambridge on Tuesday who have had a very smart result today."