Rotherham United boss Paul Warne says his side needed to be more ruthless in the final third after a narrow defeat against Reading, having created 17 chances, of which just one which they managed to steer on target.
The Millers created opportunities through Freddie Ladapo and Michael Smith, with others trying their luck. However for all the chances created, only Trevor Clark was able to test Rafael in the Royals goal late on.
“It’s a bit difficult coming out straight after the game, a bit emotive,” Warne told www.themillers.co.uk.
“I thought we started the game okay, obviously with the injury to Robbo we had to change our shape which is a big blow. The coaches work really hard on how we play. That had people playing out of position and Freddie playing right wing, really.
“I can’t knock their efforts. We came in 1-0 down at half time but still probably had the best chances of the half. That’s the frustrating thing for me. We tried to change it and Flo came on and I thought he was excellent.
“Matt Olosunde was excellent, as was Angus. There were some really good performances and we had 17 attempts, 50 per cent play but didn’t have the cutting edge to get the goal. Even with the deflected effort, I was waiting for the net to ripple and it didn’t go.
“They give everything but there’s no point wrapping up any other way, we’ve lost five on the spin. I’m the man at the helm. It’s all by one goal and I don’t know if that makes it better or worse. We have 15 cup finals to rectify it and that’s all we can do.”
“I can’t come out here every week and talk about how well we’ve done when we’re not picking up points. Because you get judged by your points. It was a battling performance against a quality team in the top six and I’m hugely disappointed we’ve come away with nothing.
We had 17 or 18 attempts but only one on target. If you’re going to win games at this level, you have to take your chances. Hopefully, one of these games, we’ll give someone a good cracking. If you don’t take your chances, you come off without a point again and the lads are licking their wounds again. Obviously, they’re only human and you look at the league table and we’re making it harder for ourselves.”
The Millers boss is now waiting to see the extent of a hamstring injury sustained by centre-half Clark Robertson, who was withdrawn in the first half.
“It’s going to be a tough run-in, but there’s enough in that dressing room,” Warne explained.
“We have some players coming back – and we do need them to come back. We play with three centre-halves, have four at the club and three of them are out.
“It’s disappointing for Robbo because he’s hit a good vein of form, but if I didn’t have bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck.”