Alan Stubbs post Cardiff City...
Manager Alan Stubbs said his Rotherham United side didn’t get what they deserved after a 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City.The Millers took the lead through Izzy Brown in the second half, but they let a commanding position slip after a Rickie Lambert brace secured victory for the visitors.
After the game Stubbs was again frustrated that his side couldn’t see the job through, but again praised the effort of the players, stressing that it was a game that Millers deserved to win.
"You look at the game and I can't fault the effort of the players,” he said after the game.
“They have kept going. If you look at the goals, I think the first goal, it wasn't a free-kick, but we should have defended the ball into the box better.
“The second one probably sums up our luck at the moment, I thought that the players deserved a lot more than what we got out of the game. I thought that we were the better side in the first half, and at 1-0 we just needed that second goal to see it across the line. The players are not getting the rewards for the effort they are putting in at the moment.
"We have had a couple of chances. We have hit the target, and made the keeper make a save. There is one at the back post where if we had anticipated it better then it is a tap in at the back post. Overall I am obviously disappointed for the players more than anything because they are trying their hardest at the moment and they are not getting the rewards.”
Stubbs continued to add that his side need to be more resolute when taking the lead and says it was a lapse in concentration that undid his side’s hard work in the defeat to Cardiff City.
"I know that there are a lot of disappointed lads in there but to reward themselves we have to have more resilience about us to defend balls into the box, and get our heads onto them rather than the opposition,” he explained.
"I didn't feel that they put us under any real pressure at times, it was more from set pieces when balls came into the box. On the whole we defended them reasonably well but it just goes to show that in this division if you switch off or you lose concentration for one split second, and before you know it the ball can be in the back of your net.
Following the club’s first league defeat on home soil this season, Stubbs admitted he was disappointed that his side aren’t positioned higher in the table but insists they must eradicate defensive mistakes if they are to climb the standings in the second tier.
"You look at the table, and I think if anybody is realistic in their analysis of the games, I think we should be on 13 or 14 points, and that is the disappointing thing,” he continued.
“We need to defend better as a team. Rickie Lambert is a Premier League player and he used his experience, you saw that today, but we have to be better at defending set pieces, it is as simple as that.
“We need to keep working hard, I actually thought that we deserved to win the game today, but unfortunately right now we are not getting what we deserve out of the games."