Rotherham United

Paul Warne post Wigan Athletic...

Rotherham United Manager Paul Warne gave his thoughts on today’s 3-1 defeat at home to high-flying Wigan Athletic.

“I’m obviously disappointed to lose the game,” said Warne. “We played against a very good side. I know it’s early on but it’s the best side that have played here.

“We’ve played the top two, we deserved something out of the game last week and I felt we possibly deserved something out of the game this week. At 3-1, if we could have got a goal back and kept knocking on the door, it might have took a different turn.

“They’ve got quality out wide and the balls they were putting into the box were excellent. We were trying to stop the wave. We’ve had more attempts on goal than them and the lads were pushing to get back into the game so I can’t question the lads’ character but, defensively, we weren’t good enough.

David Ball’s excellent first league goal for the Millers wasn’t enough as the visitors proved ruthless in front of goal, taking the lead twice before rounding off the match on the hour mark.

“I felt we came back into the game really well,” he continued. “I thought Bally scored a great goal and we can see why I brought him to the club. He did well today, he just tired as he hasn’t played in a while. He joined up our play well. We got in a couple of times in the same area behind Bruce. Frecks and Towell possibly could have done better with opportunities where we could have gone in at half time all square.

“We didn’t take our chances as well as we could have today. We’re on a bit of a run of, not bad luck, but we’re not getting enough of what we’re due.

“We look to go to Bristol Rovers next week, we go there and if we win we’re back to one place off the Play-Offs. It’s not all doom and gloom, the lads have put a lot in and we’ve played against a good team today, unfortunately we’ve come away with nothing.

“We spoke to the lads at half time about stopping crosses. Michael has held his hand up in there. The defending has to be better because I don’t see Wigan giving us a chance like that. It’s disappointing but I’m not here to hammer individual players.

“I’ve always spoke very highly of Bally. He’s been unlucky. The fans can see what he’s got and I’ve asked the lads to trust Bally when he’s got a lot of people around him because he’s a really intelligent footballer. He’s definite a highlight who performed today.

“I made a few changes today because I felt a few of the lads looked off-sync. We’re going to have a long week on the training ground this week.”