Rotherham United manager Paul Warne admitted that the early goal that his side conceded against Wycombe Wanderers set the tone for a game in which they failed to capitalise on their own chances when they came.
In an undoubtedly important game for his side, Warne admitted that his team were not at their best as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
“Obviously the first goal was really avoidable and I think that set the tone for the rest of the game. Ikpeazu bullied us and after that, it rocked the lads,” www.themillers.co.uk.
“I thought we had plenty of opportunities in the first half and I thought we would at least go into half time with one back, but it wasn’t to be.
“We changed it in the second half and put two attacking players on, in hindsight it didn’t work. Obviously we conceded a goal late on was the icing on the cake for them.
“For us to have so many chances and not take them was frustrating because I honestly thought if we scored at 2-0 it would make it a completely different game but it wasn’t to be and it is a disappointing loss for us.
“I thought Wycombe managed the game really well, there was no pace or tempo to it which we thrive off. Obviously to lose a game where you need to win is a blow, but we’ve got 10 left to try and put it right.
“I didn’t see that coming. We played well against Millwall and deserved a point. We lost against Watford but we only had a few days to train. We won at Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday, defeats always come in this league but this one does hurt because our performance was disappointing.
“It makes it tougher (to stay up) but that doesn’t mean we’re not up for a fight. We’ve got 10 cup finals left to make 10 memories and we’ll absolutely throw everything at it.”
The Millers lined up with a 4-4-2 formation, which was a change from the 3-5-2 system they’ve utilised in recent outings.
Warne conceded that the system change didn’t go as planned, but stressed there were a number of factors in the decision to make the switch.
“I picked the team that I thought would win. We didn’t have Woody, Matt Olosunde has just come back from an injury,” Warne explained.
“I could have played him but if he’d have pulled his hamstring and missed the rest of the season it wouldn’t have been good for us.
“We just picked the best 11 players that we thought would help us win the game. When we went to Millwall and ended up with a 4-4-1, we had a lot more control of the ball and we were hoping for similar today. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
“We created enough chances, but we didn’t take them and in fairness to Wycombe they created three and took them. We respect what they’ve done today, but we just weren’t good enough.”