Vyner looking to ease pain of horror Millers debut
ROTHERHAM UNITED defender Zac Vyner admits that he and his team-mates will be aiming to secure some choice payback against Brentford on Saturday.
The loan full-back endured the proverbial baptism of fire in a torrid debut for the club on the opening-day of the season, as Rotherham were trounced 5-1 at Griffin Park – on a horror return to the Championship.
Vyner is the first to acknowledge that it was a fraught introduction to his career in South Yorkshire, but he is confident that the Millers have learned the lessons of that sobering occasion.
Vyner, on a season-loan long from Bristol City, said: “The first game of the season was a difficult one for everybody to take and there is a payback that needs to come out a little bit.
“It was not the best (debut). It was not a feeling of helplessness, but because they were at it and we were very far off it, it made it not a good game. It was a lesson for everybody and we definitely learned from that as we then had Ipswich at home next and won.
“We definitely bounced back and have not looked back since.
“Now we have grown into the league and people are not underestimating us. We have played all the teams once, teams are going to come here and expect a bit of a fight and that we are not going to stop and will run at them.”
Vyner also insists that the Millers have taken events in their recent seven-goal FA Cup exit at Manchester City firmly on the chin as well and have been quickly able to put that setback into some sort of perspective.
Despite, Paul Warne’s side losing out narrowly in last weekend’s relegation ‘six-pointer’ at Ipswich, the Londoner feels that a strong display at least dispelled any lingering talk of an extended hangover effect following the Millers’ worst ever FA Cup loss.
He added: “We pretty much did everything right, especially in the second half, to get a goal. But it just did not fall for us.
“To be fair, we never got ahead of ourselves and did no go into the (City) game thinking: ‘oh no, we cannot tackle him, he is so-andso.’ But the gulf in class and they punished us.
“You have to learn from those results. It was a big hit, but if you do not learn from it, you are never going to get better as a player, coach or a team.
“You have to take everything in your stride.”