Paul Warne 'hugely disappointed' by Rotherham United's lack of ruthlessness in Rochdale defeat

Rotherham United manager Paul Warne bemoaned his side’s lack of ruthless edge in the wake of Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Rochdale.
Rotherham United manager Paul Warne. Picture: Getty ImagesRotherham United manager Paul Warne. Picture: Getty Images
Rotherham United manager Paul Warne. Picture: Getty Images

The Millers saw plenty of the ball and managed more than 20 attempts at goal, but failed to seriously extend home goalkeeper Robert Sanchez on a disappointing afternoon that saw title rivals Coventry City pull five points clear at the top of League One.

"My major concern is that we have loads of play but we just didn't create enough clear-cut [chances] to win," Warne reflected.

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"We've had 20-odd attempts at goal, 44 crosses and we just have to find another way to score because the crosses didn't hit the spot or the strikers weren't making the right runs.

"I thought Cheo [Ogbene] was excellent first half, it's just that final decision, from all the players, not just Cheo, it's just let us down today.

"I thought they [Rochdale] defended really well, kept our strikers quieter than we did theirs. Thommo has had a chance, Smudge has had a chance from a set-piece, sometimes you need that to happen, but it didn't.

"If we'd have scored one it would have opened the game up.

"We came here to win, I'm hugely disappointed."

Rotherham did have the ball in the back of the net in the first half, however they were denied a 36th-minute equaliser by an offside flag after Michael Smith added a finishing touch to Ben Wiles' goal-bound header.

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"It summed our day up that Wilsey’s header was going in but Smudge [Smith] touches it and it’s an offside goal.” Warne added.

“It would have been 1-1 at half-time and I would have fancied us in the second half.

"I’ve seen it before where a player's touched it and weren't sure if it's going in, he's got to take it, he's got a defender behind him.

"It's just a striker's instinct. If he had left it and they'd cleared it off the line, we'd have been criticising him for not going for it."

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United remain second in the table despite Saturday's defeat, though after a run of just one win in five matches, the gap between them and eighth position now stands at just three points.

Warne is however refusing to read too much into his team's poor showing against lowly 'Dale.

"We haven’t turned into a bad team overnight.” he added.

“We’ve been amazing away from home this season, we weren't as amazing today.

"With nine games to go, I knew for a fact that we'd lose some games between now and the end of the season.

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"It's disappointing. We have to be critical of the team, but pick them up. They know we back them, we just have to be better than that if we're gonna achieve something.

"They've all tried their best, but our best weren't good enough. We expected a lot more than what we got."

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