‘It’s nice to be out of the bottom three’ admits Rotherham United boss

Joe Rafferty’s bizarre own goal helped the Millers to victory at Deepdale.

Rafferty headed Freddie Ladapo’s shot into his own net after just 17 seconds and Preston were unable to recover, despite dominating the first half.

Ben Wiles fired home to make it 2-0 in the 55th minute, with Ched Evans’s goal midway through the second half just a consolation for North End.

“I thought Preston were easily the better side in the first half and asked us loads of questions,” said Millers chief Paul Warne.

“We were lucky to go in at half-time with a clean sheet. I don’t think our performance justified a 1-0 lead at half-time.

“But we changed it a little bit and got our wing-backs to play a little bit deeper and got our foot on the ball a little bit better. And I thought in the second half we were really good.

“We got another goal and I thought our play deserved a third goal. That was the only disappointing thing for me.

“We had to defend a bit of a siege because they threw the kitchen sink at us, so I was very happy to hear the final whistle. It’s nice to be out of the bottom three, but we’ve got a lot of games to go. I’m really pleased with the lads’ performance.

“I took five key players out and I thought we had a decent spring in our step. Overall we’re pleased with, but we’ve got to go again on Tuesday against Cardiff.”

Preston North End: Iversen, Rafferty (Maguire 81); Huntington (van den Berg 72), Lindsay, Hughes, Whiteman; Ledson (Johnson 66), Barkhuizen, Molumby (Potts 66); Gordon (Sinclair 66), Evans. Unused substitutes: Gallagher, Jakobsen, Ripley, Cunningham.

Rotherham United: Johansson, Ihiekwe, A MacDonald, Robertson, Harding; Wing, Barlaser (Wood 90), Lindsay (Wiles 14), Giles (Olosunde 66); Ladapo (Smith 67), Hirst (Crooks 67). Unused substitutes: MacDonald, Clarke, Jozefzoon, Vickers.

Referee: G Ward (Surrey).

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