Rotherham United First Team/ Development Coach Matt Hamshaw was left delighted with the team’s performance, following a richly deserved victory over Bristol City at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
The Robins came to South Yorkshire in the play-off positions in the Sky Bet Championship, but were put to the sword courtesy of first half strikes from Matt Crooks and Michael Smith.
Despite the Millers’ obvious delight at collecting three points, the scoreline did not flatter Paul Warne’s men who could have quite easily recorded an even greater margin of victory on another day.
“I think we showed today against a very good Bristol City team that, if I’m going to be honest, we outfought them, outbattled them and at times we outplayed them and I think that is full credit to our players,” Hamshaw explained.
“Our recent home performances have been excellent, we we’ve been a little disappointed with some first half displays recently, however what we have got in that changing room is character and fighting spirit.That is something we’ve been built on in the last four years and I think that came to the forefront today. We needed to show what it means to wear this shirt and we definitely got that today.”
There were a number of strong performances among the Millers ranks during this victory, and while Hamshaw admitted he’d been impressed with Michael Smith’s display, he stressed that the performance from the team as a whole was excellent.
“He (Michael Smith) was very good, but was one of a number who played really well today. I thought Vass (Kyle Vassell) did well, Freddie (Ladapo) came on and did well and so did George (Hirst). I think we looked like we weren’t going to concede today and I think that is a massive plus.
“Viktor (Johansson) has come in and did really well, the back three stayed disciplined and did everything we asked. Matt Olosunde was very good and I thought Ben Wiles playing out of position at left-wing back was excellent.
“On another day we could have had a few more goals. Viktor made one save in the second half from Nahki Wells, but aside from that I don’t think they created many opportunities. They’ve got good players up top who can cause teams problems, hence why they are where they are in the table and it speaks volumes of the players we have.”