Rotherham United 2 Fleetwood Town 0: Paul Warne "really pleased" with pre-season win in Croatia

Georgie Kelly scored twice as Rotherham United defeated Fleetwood Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly in Croatia on Thursday night.

The Millers played the League One outfit in a 70-minute match, as Paul Warne fielded a weakened side due to a handful of minor injuries.

Kelly, who scored on his debut in Rotherham's final game of last season against Gillingham, netted either side of the break after being set up by Conor Washington for the first before tucking home a penalty after Peter Kioso was fouled inside the penalty area.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Rotherham are set to conclude their pre-season training camp today before flying back to Yorkshire tomorrow morning.

"It's nice to get a game but there's obviously a few lads we couldn't do that for because we've suffered pretty severely with injuries this week. We're expecting a lot of those back next week," Warne told the club website.

"I'm really pleased with how it went. My intention was to play 60 minutes in total because we only really had 14 outfield players to select from but we ended up playing 70.

"It is probably the most competitive 70 minutes that the lads have had. You can train with intensity, but there were proper tackles going in - maybe even more than both managers wanted truth be told.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Poor Haks [Odoffin] has come away having been caught with an elbow and his eye has swelled up but other than that, we've got through it without any more damage.

MANAGER: Rotherham boss Paul Warne. Picture: Getty Images.MANAGER: Rotherham boss Paul Warne. Picture: Getty Images.
MANAGER: Rotherham boss Paul Warne. Picture: Getty Images.

"The lads were obviously leggy because of the work that we've done out here. I asked them after the game how they felt and they admitted it, but I didn't want them to feel fresh, I wanted them to reveal a bit of character.

"I also want them to be fit and it's been a tough week. Tomorrow we'll do a lighter session with them in the afternoon and then give them a little bit of time off before we fly back Saturday morning. What we wanted from the game, we got."