‘UGLY’ MILLERS EXCITE WARNE
SOMETIMES you have to win ugly, and that’s exactly what Rotherham did as they battled to all three points at Rochdale, according to an ecstatic Paul Warne.
Both teams squandered moments of quality at Spotland but it was Richard Wood’s second-half header that gave Rotherham just a second away victory since April 2016.
The centre-back headed home Anthony Forde’s corner to send the visiting fans home jubilant, a moment the manager is in no doubt will be remembered come the final reckoning at the season’s end.
“At places like this, in horrendous conditions, it’s going to be an ugly game and you have to play ugly sometimes to get the three points,” said Warne.
“At the end of the season, you'll look back at the points you pick up at away grounds and think that was a good win or a good draw.
“Before we came here I would have taken a point, so the fact that we won and played well in some difficult conditions makes me very proud of what the lads put in.
“We brought a lot of fans here, so it didn’t feel like an away game, it helped the lads.
“I was really pleased, our away form hasn’t been ace. I think our performances have been good though."
Rotherham boasted the better of the first half through Will Vaulks and Richie Towell but Josh Lillis produced two excellent saves to keep the two sides level.
Steven Davies, who had earlier fired narrowly over, then tried to strike back after the Millers’ 57th-minute opener, heading Joe Bunney’s corner onto the bar.
The two combined once again minutes later, but this time the latter’s effort was cleared off the line as the game developed an element of consistent scrappiness.
Wood then had a great chance to double the lead from Darren Potter’s cross, only to head over.
And Dale should have snatched a point in the dying moments, but Davies somehow managed to volley the ball over the bar when it looked easier to score
“We’re not playing goalscoring football at the minute which is a problem,” said Dale manager Keith Hill.
“We aren’t being effective enough in front of goal and it’s spoiling performances because there’s not an awful lot wrong with the performance.
“Some of the performances are more than acceptable and I’ll accept the team’s performance here.
“But we need to find that attacking rhythm and put the chances away when we get them.
“The structure of the team is pretty good and that’s the first goal we’ve conceded for a while, so we have to get the other side of the game right.
“We created enough chances to win that game but we have to take them.”