Rotherham United boss Steve Evans feels heat as pressure is lessened slightly on Barnsley FC rival Darrell Clarke - plus 'penalty' controversy

After events at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, it is the turn of Evans, whose side received jeers after a 1-0 loss.

A 52nd-minute penalty from Adam Phillips earned the Reds a deserved first win in seven matches. The Millers are winless in their last six games in all competitions and have lost five with their season going nowhere.

Evans said: "Listen, there is a lot of football to be played and people playing for their futures and managers and coaches as well.

"In any football club, if you don’t turn up and perform in a derby, you are going to be criticised, deservedly so after a performance like that."

Clarke was pleased to start to change the narrative and praised his side's resilience levels after criticising their 'soft' and 'flaky' traits on several occasions of late and calling them out.

The Reds chief, whose side visit Northampton own on Tuesday and are seven points behind sixth-placed Leyton Orient, said: "There was a lot of pressure on for different reasons, you are not on a good winning run and it's a derby game.

"I'm sure a lot of people were fearing the worse, but I was really pleased with the players' reaction, but we've got to back that up on Tuesday night.

"We have not had enough of that sort of robust performance this season. We've had nowhere near enough clean sheets and to be successful in a season, you need to find different ways of winning games.”

The performance of referee Ollie Yates was also firmly in the spotlight, after he awarded Barnsley a penalty but ignored cast-iron calls for two others alongside a strong case for a Millers’ spot-kick.

Evans added: "We are Rotherham United. We do not get penalties off EFL officials…

“It was an awful decision, although Darrell will be disappointed he didn't get a couple too.”