Millers Manager Paul Warne gave his reaction to tonight’s 2-2 draw against Queen Park Rangers.
It’s the second successive 2-2 draw at the AESSEAL New York Stadium after Saturday’s pulsating South Yorkshire derby, but this time it was the Millers who conceded late.
“I thought we started the game well,” said Warne. “We scored and then gave away a bit of a crazy goal. I thought, first-half, we were deserving of 2-1. I warned the lads at half-time – I thought they would come at us a bit in the second-half. I thought we needed that third goal which, unfortunately, eluded us. I thought we probably didn’t create enough clear-cut chances to get the third goal.
“The sucker-punch was just as the injury-time’s gone up. To concede from the cross is hugely disappointing. Marek’s kept us in the game with a couple of great saves, it does feel hard to take.
“Obviously I’m disappointed not to have the three points, as are the lads, but I think it shows just how far we’ve come as a group and a team. QPR and Norwich are the in-form teams by a country mile and they were really pleased with the point.”
The first three goals arrived in the first 15 minutes, with the Millers twice taking the lead through Will Vaulks and then Clark Robertson after Nahki Wells’ leveller.
“I don’t think we were at our best today,” continued Warne. “It’s no excuse, but the Yorkshire derby might have took a bit of emotional energy out of the lads but we have to pick ourselves up for Saturday now. It’s just disappointing. The goals we conceded were disappointing tonight. Collectively I don’t think we were as good as we’ve been in recent weeks.
“I’m really proud of what the lads are doing. We’re competing, toe-to-toe, with some unbelievable sides, I’ve got no issue with that. But I want to win football matches. I don’t want to throw away wins with five minutes left and nor do the lads.
“It just show how far we’ve come and how competitive we want to be. If we’d have hung on tonight we’d have been 16th and things are looking good. Things are looking good, the club’s in good health, the lads are pulling in the right direction but we need to turn draws into wins.
“Although I’m proud we’re not losing football matches, we want to win some.”
Despite the late disappointment, there was almost an instant reply as Jamie Proctor almost repeated his heroics from the weekend in front of the home fans, but Lumley made a terrific low save to deny the striker.
“When we’re on top, we’ve got to score goals. I think most managers say it. When we were 2-1 up, if we’d have been better in our play, we’d have got a third goal and the game would have been over. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
“I think with five minutes to go, we needed to see the game out and we didn’t do that. I will say that QPR deserved the equaliser. If it wasn’t for Marek, they’d have probably got it a lot earlier.”