Rotherham United manager Paul Warne was delighted to see his side hit six on their way to three points against Bolton Wanderers this afternoon.
Despite going a goal down earl on, the Millers bounced back with half a dozen strikes to record their first victory at AESSEAL New York Stadium this season.
“I always think we can be better,” said Warne. “If I didn’t I’m not doing my job properly. We’ll watch the game back tomorrow then prepare for Sunderland. We’ll see what things we could have done better.
“We had plenty of chances, first-half. The set-piece caught us cold, even though we haven’t been able to have them watched, I knew set-pieces would be a problem. Someone fell asleep, so that’s a problem.
“But, overall, to score six goals at home in the sunshine, it was a good workout against a good Bolton side. We weren’t playing against an Under-21s – anything but. They did cause us problems, at times, but more often than not, the lads answered the questions.”
A superb solo goal from Ben Wiles levelled the tie, before Freddie Ladapo and a Millers first for Carlton Morris made it 3-1 before the break.
Ladapo and Morris helped themselves to another strike each before Jake Hastie scored United’s sixth.
“The lads were trying to score,” continued Warne “We were putting dangerous crosses in. We haven’t had much luck over the last five or six games, I don’t think. Whereas we had a lot of luck today, like Carlton’s second goal with how it fell to him and a deflected shot. You could argue that the scoreline maybe flattered us, I don’t know if we were deserved of more goals but we were definitely deserved of a win.
“We have the easy part of trying to prepare the lads and give them as much information as we can. But I thought there were some really good performances today. Wilesy is very unlucky that he didn’t win man of the match because I thought he was excellent. Jake Hastie is getting fitter every week, but I need him for Tuesday night, ideally.
“When the subs came on and the game-changers came on, it made us even stronger. We got what we expected from Bolton, they had a lot of possession of the ball. Verlinden’s a really good player – I watched him myself in the summer.
“I thought they (Bolton) would start really well. They had a brilliant following and they stood to a man to the final whistle and clapped their team off, which was hugely impressive.
“For them to score early on was a good character test and the lads passed the test.”