Peterborough United 2 Rotherham United 1 - Millers lack 'guile' as defeat at The Posh knocks them off top spot in League One

ROTHERHAM United manager Paul Warne felt his side lacked "guile" as they were knocked off the top of League One by defeat at Peterborough United.
Rotherham United manager Paul Warne.Rotherham United manager Paul Warne.
Rotherham United manager Paul Warne.

The Posh took the lead through Ivan Toney's strike after only two minutes and the hosts doubled their lead through Sam Szmodics 20 minutes later.

The Millers responded when Michael Ihiekwe found the net on 35 minutes but Paul Warne's charges couldn't muster another goal as they lost for the first time in seven league games - a run stretching back to December 7.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A 1-0 win for Ipswich Town at home to Lincoln City means Rotherham drop to second, level on points with Wycombe Wanderers in third.

“We just didn’t seem to have any guile to create something different," said Warne.

“I just thought that we played too ‘straight line’ and we didn’t have any guile really today. Whether that was because we were missing players I don’t know.

“I just didn’t think in the first half, in the first 20 minutes, that we pressed with enough intensity.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I was quite happy to get in at half time at 2-1 and I expected the team to go out and perform better in the second half. It just wasn’t a good football game.

“They kept turning us all the time and we found it hard and in fairness we found it hard to deal with their pace up front and they kept us pegged back quite a lot."

Talisman Kyle Vassell missed the clash through injury but Warne hopes to have the Northern Ireland international back for Tuesday night's crunch encounter with Ipswich at the New York Stadium.

The Millers chief also confirmed that Matt Crooks missed the fixture due to a personal emergency.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Warne added: "We’ve had a few walking wounded this week. Vass we knew earlier in the week was going to struggle.

"He should be okay for Tuesday which is good news.

“Crooksy’s personal issue we found out about at 11am this morning in the team hotel. So he jumped in a taxi and went home and our thoughts are with him.

“We still had a good enough team to win a football match and that is what’s disappointing and I think we could have done if we’d played at our best, but today we didn’t.”