Rotherham United boss Paul Warne hailed his side’s performance as their most complete this season following their 2-2 draw with high-flying AFC Bournemouth at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
The Millers were forced to work incredibly hard for a share of the spoils in the South Yorkshire encounter and were dealt an early blow when Junior Stanislas converted a first half penalty to give the visitors the advantage.
A double salvo from Freddie Ladapo either side of the interval gave Warne’s men a well-earned lead but Dominic Solanke’s late header ensured that the Cherries would return to the South Coast with a point.
Speaking following a tireless showing from his side, the Millers boss was full of praise for their reaction on the field to recent defeats at Swansea City and Queens Park Rangers.
"I'm really pleased. I think it is the best we've been and the most complete we've been in a 90 minute performance,” Warne explained.
"The last few games we've been disappointed with the two halves, because we've been good in the second but not in the first.
"We definitely addressed that. I thought from the first whistle to the last we were really good.
"We created the most chances to win the game and in fairness I would have thought that Begovic in goal was the standout player and the Man of the Match - he made numerous saves.
"It was nice to see us look more aggressive on all of our set pieces today, which is what we've been asking for. I thought the front two led the line well and there were really good performances from the middle three - I thought their energy was a joke.
"I thought Jamie Lindsay was outstanding, as were Crooksy and Wilesy because we asked them to do quite a lot.
"I was really pleased for Freddie to get another two goal - that will do his confidence no end of good. Smudge was back at his best as well.
Warne deployed a less familiar 3-5-2 system against Jason Tindall’s men to counter a number of their impressive threats and was pleased to see the tactical shift pay dividends on Saturday.
"We played a different system and the lads only had a day and half to get used to it,” he continued.
“Overall I'm really pleased with the performance. To take a point off a top team will give our dressing room the belief in themselves that I have in them.
"I don't think we gave them too much respect today. We didn't play as high a press as we have done in previous games because if we did, they'd have picked us off.
"We had a different engagement line but once we got to that it was full out. I asked the lads to play brave and I knew they would have opportunities on the ball and no team at any level likes to defend crosses.”
With the fixture schedule failing to relent, the Millers will be forced into at least one change when they welcome Brentford on Tuesday night as a result of Michael Ihiekwe picking up his fifth booking of the season.
"He was excellent and he won all his headers and was part of that back three. It is a bit of a blow but we've got Woody available for Tuesday night,” Warne revealed.
"Matt Olosunde tightened up and everyone had to move down the bus and Trev came on and played a good role at left wing back.
"You're going to pick up injuries and bookings and it was going to happen sooner or later and it is just unfortunate.”