It’s keep calm and carry on insists Millers chief
ROTHERHAM UNITED sit top of a league table for the first time since August 2011 but manager Paul Warne is not allowing his players to get carried away.
A 3-1 success at Oxford United last weekend sent the Millers top of League One and extended their unbeaten league run to six games.
The Millers eventually finished 10th in League Two after being the early pacesetters in 2011-12 and with only eight points separating the top 12 teams in League One, Warne’s focus is firmly on tomorrow’s clash with Bristol Rovers.
“Every team in this league brings a threat,” said Warne.
The Millers chief feels that his side have been on the right side of fortune since losing to Rochdale at the start of December and hopes that “lady luck” stays on their side a while longer.
Warne continued: “You still need luck, I am not sitting here like I have got it sussed. We got a late goal at Shrewsbury and Dan Barlaser scored a worldie against Blackpool. It has come down to little moments, it is not complete domination of every team we have played. We have had a little bit of lady luck and hopefully it will stay with us a little longer.
“If we were third or fourth I wouldn’t be making a big deal of who was top. We have got our noses in front and long may it continue. There is so much football to go and with 19 games to play I am not going to get too giddy.”
Rotherham haven’t lost a league game since December 7 and Warne believes fitness levels are behind their recent success.
He said: “I always feel that the fitter teams do better. Those games were really quick over the Christmas period. And our lads were physically prepared for it, I am not saying other teams weren’t, but I knew ours were.
“So I didn’t need to change the team because the lads are so fit.”
Millers striker Kyle Vassell had been the subject of interest from other clubs prior to the January transfer window. The 26-yearold scored twice in last weekend’s win at Oxford, taking his tally to four goals in his last five games.
Warne said: “People were sniffing around Kyle before. But none of my strikers are for sale, we don’t need the money. We don’t need the players to leave.
“If you go after a player who is playing for a team that is top of the league, it would need to be some offer to disrupt our promotion plan.”