Rotherham United midfielder Dan Barlaser believes the Millers can be proud of their display, following a late defeat to Norwich City at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
Paul Warne’s side held a hard fought lead at the break through Freddie Ladapo’s opener, with the striker unlucky to see his spot-kick saved midway through the opening period.
The game turned when the unfortunate Michael Ihiekwe diverted Max Aaron’s cross into his own goal, before Angus MacDonald saw red for a challenge on Oliver Skipp, as the Millers had to battle the final 20 minutes a man down.
Speaking after the game, Barlaser stressed the team deserved something out of their encounter with the Canaries, but they can take plenty of positives out of the match ahead of a trip to face Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
“I thought the least we deserved was a point, in this league teams will punish you if you don’t take your chances and unfortunately that’s what happened," Barlaser told www.themillers.co.uk.
“On another day we would have been on the end of some better luck, but these things happen. We’ve just to carry on and take it into Tuesday now, because it was a good performance.
“I think the way we kept the ball was great, we’ve been working on it in training and I thought we did that really well. Our game plan was to press them really high up the pitch and that is something we executed as well.
“Obviously we’re down, but after that performance we can be proud. They were in the Premier League not long ago and they’ve needed an own goal a penalty to beat us.”
The game marked Barlaser’s first start since re-joining the Millers from Newcastle United. As if an empty stadium was not already a surreal experience, the team also had to play without their manager in the dugout after a family member returned a positive COVID-19 test, forcing Warne to self-isolate.
Barlaser admitted that it was a strange experience, but insisted they gave everything for their manager against his boyhood club.
"I want to play as many games for this club in this league as I can and that’s what I’m trying to do. I think everyone has stepped up this season and there’s a lot of competition for places.
"It was a little bit strange not having the gaffer there, knowing he was a Norwich fan we were desperate to get a result for him, sadly we couldn’t do that, but we gave everything for him," Barlaser added.