Plymouth v Rotherham United: Paul Warne determined to stamp out complacency at Millers

He ‘smelt’ it before and during Tuesday’s game against a struggling side in Morecambe which was not as straightforward as the 2-0 verdict in favour of Rotherham United suggested.

The performance in goal of Millers keeper Josh Vickers was testament to that fact.

Still, the statistics will show that the top-of-the-table Millers secured an eighth win in nine league matches and extended their unbeaten sequence in all competitions on home soil to an eye-catching 19 games.

Who can stop Rotherham? Maybe only themselves. If Warne has his way, it will not come into the equation.

A tough fixture list, starting with today’s visit to Devon, should further sharpen the focus. Trips to Wycombe, Sunderland and Portsmouth remain on the itinerary of United, who also host third-placed MK Dons next weekend.

Warne’s side are nine points clear of MK with a game in hand. Their form is strong, but so is MK’s, who have won seven of their past 10 games, losing just once.

Warne said: “We’ve not achieved anything yet. I know it sounds like: ‘Oh, he’s a bundle of fun’. But if you think you have and it bites you, you are in trouble.

“When I walked into the ground (on Tuesday), someone said: ‘Oh, is it going to be five tonight, Warney’ and I am thinking: ‘Oh my God.’

“It is nice to be optimistic as a football fan, but it is our job to be realistic and drive performances and not be overconfident.

“We were not at our best. There was a feeling that the lads felt: ‘Oh, we’ve done this, that’s another game gone’. That’s never the case and I said to the group that if Morecambe had scored, they’d have gone onto take points off us or take all three points.

“As it is hard to change that psychology in games and the best teams keep scoring and doing the right things and I don’t think we did.”

Perhaps an indicator of why Rotherham are having such a consistent season arrived a few days later on Thursday.

A team meeting was held, complete with a video analysis session which specifically pinpointed what the Millers did not do right on Tuesday at an individual and collective level.

It left no hiding place for any player who erred. The reaction which Warne spoke about was also revealing.

Warne, who prides himself on high standards and openness and honesty in a dressing-room led by the redoubtable Richard Wood, continued: “We drive standards and the meeting about what I didn’t like on Tuesday had a lot more in it than normal.

“Hopefully, the lads will pick up their performance and they are certainly going to need to this weekend.

“To be fair, the players agreed with my theory. A couple of the defenders admitted to the fact that the problems we got ourselves into were self-induced.

“It is a lot more easy to criticise after a win. People are a lot more open to criticism when they think they are in a good place.”