Alan Stubbs post Norwich City...
Boss Alan Stubbs stressed he couldn’t fault the effort from his players following defeat to high-flying Norwich City at Carrow Road.Goals from Wes Hoolahan, Cameron Jerome and Steven Naismith ensured that the hosts collected maximum points, despite Dexter Blackstock’s first Rotherham goal giving Stubbs’ side a sniff of a point near the end.
Stubbs was again happy with his side’s effort and commitment, emphasising that against other opposition the Millers may well have come away with something.
After the game he said:
“I thought that we have just played one of the favourites for promotion this season, it was always going to be a difficult game here.
“I thought that there were parts of the game where we have competed well, but we have contributed to our downfall again. I can't fault the effort, you can see that they are putting the effort in and they are staying in games better. Towards the end of the game, we are chasing to try and get an equaliser, and then Norwich score late on.
“When we scored our goal you could see signs of nervousness coming into their game, we just needed to hang in there a little bit longer to see if anything would drop for us.
“You can see that the desire and the work rate is there, they are giving everything that they have got. I can’t knock them for that.”
Blackstock opened his Rotherham account when he tapped in a cross from Darnell Fisher to give the Millers a fighting chance of claiming a point.
Stubbs said that he was impressed with the former Nottingham Forest marksman, who is now closing in on full fitness following his switch to South Yorkshire.
“There is a positive for Dexter, he comes on and he gives us something different to what we have been playing with,” Stubbs added.
“That will be good for his own confidence, not that he necessarily needs it. Great for him, it is his first goal since he has signed but it still doesn’t take away the disappointment that we have lost the game.
“They have to keep putting the effort in; they have to stick together as a team. They have to stay in games and if we keep doing that then we are not going to keep coming up against one, two and three in the division every week. It is important that when we do play teams in mid-table, and in and around us in the league, that we take points off of them.”