Stoke City v Rotherham United - No time for Millers to revel in derby win over Sheffield Wednesday

Rotherham United had one of the great nights in their history on Wednesday – and have had no time to enjoy it since.
BRAGGING RIGHTS: Rotherham United's Jamie Lindsay (second left) scores his side's third goal of the game in a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.BRAGGING RIGHTS: Rotherham United's Jamie Lindsay (second left) scores his side's third goal of the game in a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.
BRAGGING RIGHTS: Rotherham United's Jamie Lindsay (second left) scores his side's third goal of the game in a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.

Beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 did not bring silverware or the sense of achievement from great relegation escapes of the past, but it was the Millers’ biggest victory over their neighbours as well as their first home win of the campaign.

As if having to do it behind closed doors was not disappointing enough, they quickly had to put it away and concentrate on today’s Championship trip to Stoke City.

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Manager Paul Warne insists there will be no sentimentally in his team selection, and those who have not had time to recover will have to sit it out.

“It’s definitely not ideal,” he reflected. “I’ve not done many Wednesday-Saturdays but we’ve definitely got competition for places and if a couple of players are seven or eight out of ten (in terms of their fitness) we just can’t play like that.

“If I have to change my centre-forward or my wingers or my centre-halves we will because we just can’t afford to not go out all guns blazing.

“It is more difficult because after a win it would have been nice to have a day to just reset. I know some clubs train every day and that’s their choice but it’s not mine.

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“To come in on Thursday so quickly was a bit of a drain but I don’t see it as a massive problem, it’s just that your decision-making, all of your prep, is just condensed so quickly that there’s not enough hours in the day.

SWITCHING FOCUS: Millers manager Paul Warne. Picture : Jonathan GawthorpeSWITCHING FOCUS: Millers manager Paul Warne. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe
SWITCHING FOCUS: Millers manager Paul Warne. Picture : Jonathan Gawthorpe

“As long as we put a competitive team out to win again, that’s all we can do. There’s no point moaning about it.”

Stoke played on Tuesday, giving them an extra 24 hours to prepare.

“We’ve watched their last four games and we did a presentation to the players on Thursday,” explained Warne.

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“Normally you give them a day off to rest, they come in on Thursday morning, we show them what went well in Tuesday’s game, train and have a meeting after whereas everything feels a bit rushed and there was another meeting on Friday (to discuss today’s match).

“We were in at half eight on Thursday morning, the lads had their first meeting at half 11, we had to go through all the (coronavirus) training protocols, go through all the injuries, watch Wednesday’s game and there’s just not enough hours.”

Freddie Ladapo, Mickel Miller and Richard Wood are the most likely to miss out today.

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