Paul Warne encouraged by Rotherham United’s endeavour in draw with Swansea City

Rotherham United manager Paul Warne declared himself satisfied to take a point from a challenging opening-day draw with Swansea City at New York Stadium.
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How hard his team had to work in their Championship opener shows just how big the step up is for a club that has won promotion from League One three times in the last five seasons, having been relegated three times as well.

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Chiedozie Ogbene opened the scoring with a flick header from Wes Harding’s long throw in the 16th minute only for Harry Darling to smash home a 25-yard strike just before half-time.

Paul Warne's Rotherham opened the Championship season with a draw with Swansea (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)Paul Warne's Rotherham opened the Championship season with a draw with Swansea (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
Paul Warne's Rotherham opened the Championship season with a draw with Swansea (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)

Both sides had chances to win the game but it was a solid start to life back in the second tier for Rotherham.

Warne said: “They’re a possession-based team, very difficult to get the ball off. We watched all their pre-season games where they played a four at the back, today they kindly played a three and that killed us.

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“I thought the lads worked really hard out of possession and I don’t normally come in here and congratulate the crowd but I thought the crowd got it today, they know the quality of the opposition.

“It’s not a League One game where you can throw the kitched sink, you’ve got to work hard to get the ball back.

“S overall I was really pleased.

“We conceded a 30-yard screamer from a £1.5m centre-half, there’s no shame in that, but I thought we limited them to very few chances, although in fairness they did miss a guilt-edged chance (through Michael Obafemi).

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“I thought Cohen (Bramall) could have ripped the net off which would have been a grandstand ending but we gave people debuts, all in all I was very pleased.

“But it just goes to show how hard it is to get a point in this league, you have to leave it all out there.”

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