PAUL EYES MOORE OF THE SAME
ROTHERHAM boss Paul Warne is keen for his Rotherham team to continue showing pluck after they battled back from two goals down to earn a point at Oxford.
The Millers looked to be heading to a second defeat in four days after their shock midweek setback against lowly Wimbledon.
They trailed by two goals, and Oxford had also missed a penalty.
But in testing conditions, with a gale-force wind exacerbated by one end of the Kassam Stadium being open, Ryan Williams gave the Millers a lifeline just before halftime, and then Williams set up Kieffer Moore to snatch a point 12 minutes from the end.
Warne said: “Apart from a crazy 15 minutes in the first half I thought the lads battled well and deserved a point. It was damage limitation a bit and we just needed to get to half-time still in it.
“I saw some of my players’ heads drop, and I addressed that at halftime, because you’ve got to have belief in yourselves. To get that goal just before half-time was vital.
“Then Kieffer hit the crossbar, and I was wondering if it wasn’t going to happen.
“But after the disappointment of last Tuesday night, it was very important we didn’t have back-toback defeats, and in the second half there were some very good performances from us.
“I thought the lads battled well and deserved a point. The conditions didn’t really help either side.
“In possession we were very good, and out of possession not so good.
“But I was really pleased with the impact of my two wingers.”
In a roller-coaster game, Joe Newell fired the Millers in front with a fine volley after a poor defensive header from Candice Carroll, but Oxford stormed back.
Jack Payne equalised 60 seconds later with an emphatic finish after a one-two with Josh Ruffels. Ruffels then fired inside Marek Rodak’s near post and centreback Curtis Nelson stabbed the ball home at a corner that Rotherham could not clear.
In between, Rodak got down well to save a penalty from Ryan Ledson after Will Vaulks handled Ricardinho’s cross.
But Williams gave the visitors hope by shooting in from 12 yards after a corner, and Moore completed the comeback by converting Williams’ left-wing cross on 78 minutes, following a fine pass from Newell. Oxford United manager Pep Clotet said: “We all have the feeling in our camp that we should have won the match. “We had the opportunities to kill off the game, and in the second half they capitalised on our one mistake. But I still take a lot of positives because it’s an important draw against a strong team, and the fact that we are still unbeaten in this run of five games is good.”