Warne proud despite defeat

PAUL Warne vowed to dust down the players and get them ready for future battles after the defeat at St James’ Park.

Already working with a thin squad, the interim manager saw Joe Newell pull out just before kick-off with a groin problem and had to put new goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell in for a swift debut because Lewis Price couldn’t play due to a family matter.

Warne was still proud of the way his players contained the Championship leaders in the first half, having a penalty shout turned down, before their quality held sway.

“We limited Newcastle to very few chances in the first half and we had attempts on goal and corners and we were doing quite well,” he said. “I thought the way we set up worked a treat and we went toe to toe with them but when they scored just before half time it was a psychological hit for the lads and you could see that.

“Newcastle scored again and as positive as I try and be, I couldn’t see us scoring three goals out of nothing.

“I thought we dropped our heads after the second goal and the result is what it is, I’m not going to pretend it’s something else. It was a good atmosphere and a good game of football but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of it.

“We’re still nine points adrift so I’m not going to beat the lads up. We’ll go through it and pick the good bits and bad bits and try and pick them up again for next week.”

Warne believed his side should have had a penalty for goalkeeper Karl Darlow’s grab at the heels of Anthony Forde late in the first half.

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“I thought it was a pen but Fordey is honest, he didn’t go down,” he said. “It was a double whammy because they went up the other end and scored. It could have been 1-0 up against ten men but it was 1-0 to them in front of all their fans.”

The Millers will now prepare for Saturday’s clash with Barnsley in the knowledge that influential centre-half Kirk Broadfoot’s season is over due to a back injury.

A January transfer target, Leeds United’s Toumani Diagouraga, has also chosen to move to Ipswich.

 

Warne said he was “pretty close” to getting new players in, adding: “We are a little bit threadbare. I’m not saying the lads here aren’t good enough, I’m just saying they need help and you could see that against Newcastle. We need some fresh faces in.”