Paul Warne post-Reading...
Millers manager Paul Warne reflected on his side’s performance after a 1-1 draw against Reading this afternoon at the AESSEAL New York Stadium.
It took a 90th-minute leveller from Joe Mattock to pinch a point for Warne’s side, but it could have been all three after several chances in stoppage-time.
“I’m pretty happy with the result,” said Warne. “I probably wouldn’t have been before the game. Collectively and individually, I didn’t think we played the way we should play. So I was disappointed with the first-half.
“I said to the lads in the dressing room, I could have made a few changes at half-time but I could only do two. I thought our second-half performance was, obviously, a lot better. We could have been out of sight before half-time – they could have gone two or three up. But I thought we did enough in the second-half to deserve a point.
“I’m not really a ‘stat’ man but someone told me we had 26 attempts at goal, 10 on target. I think all of them came in the second-half.”
The visitors took the lead through Sam Baldock in the first-half after the striker beat the Millers’ offside trap and finished well. The Millers’ leveller was a late one, as Joe Mattock scrambled home from inside the six-yard box in the last minute of normal time.
“On all our set-pieces, we looked dangerous,” added Warne. “When it got to about 80 minutes I thought it wasn’t going to be our day. I didn’t see us scoring, not through lack of effort, but we kept narrowly missing the post.
“When Will Vaulks hit that volley so sweet but straight at the ‘keeper, I’m thinking ‘It’s just not going to be our day’.
“People will probably see it as two points dropped but I think it’s a point won because of the situation we were in. Obviously, with teams around us you don’t want to give them any points. I think it’s a point well earned by a really hardworking team.
“I don’t know whether the lads were overconfident – I don’t think they were. We were just not playing the way we play. I think it summed it up when we had a free-kick in the third minute and we could have put it in the box but we went short.
“They caused us a lot problems, they’ve got some excellent players and some real athleticism. Out of possession, we really struggled to get the ball back and we had some performances that we were disappointed with.
“The lads don’t go out to play bad on purpose but today a few of them didn’t have their best days.