"Brilliant!" Although there's a 'but' from Steve Evans after another resounding Rotherham United win
ROTHERHAM United manager Steve Evans hailed his team's “brilliant” display against Charlton Athletic today but couldn't help feeling a touch of frustration after watching his side extend their unbeaten run to six matches.
The Millers totally dominated League One proceedings at AESSEAL New York Stadium and should have been leading by more than 4-1 when the contest entered stoppage.
However, the visitors managed to grab a stoppage-time consolation goal to give the scoreline a misleading 4-2 slant.
“It was a brilliant performance,” the boss said. “Their late strike makes it look like a tighter game than it really was.
“A two-goal deficit is them getting out of jail because they were down to damage limitation by then.”
Andre Green, Alex MacDonald, Zak Jules and Mallik Wilks were all on the scoresheet as Rotherham followed up last weekend's destruction of Bolton Wanderers by offering more evidence of a revival after their disappointing beginning to the campaign.
They remained in 13th spot but Evans' target of gatecrashing the top ten sooner rather than later is looking very achievable.
“The boys implemented the game-plan,” Evans said. “If you get the performances right, the results will come. That is what is showing now. The supporters have enjoyed a really good day.
“We are just trying to make little gains. We will continue to work hard. We understand we have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of making up to do after a poor start.”
Leading 2-0, Rotherham were pegged back just before the break but then scored again in the dying seconds of the first half. Their fourth goal came soon after the restart and they were in cruise control, creating numerous opportunities, until a last-gasp Charlton reply.
Opposition boss Nathan Jones – who turned down the Millers hot-seat last term – admitted his side were well beaten.
“I thought we were really poor and didn’t do any of the basics right,” he said.
“You know when you come here what type of game you’re going to have. They were more aggressive than us.
“The goals are catastrophic. There are big, big errors in terms of a lot of things. Rotherham have had other chances as well. We didn’t defend the box.
“We got back in the game on the stroke of half-time and then we immediately went to today’s default and gave the ball away, gave a foul away, didn't defend the box and they scored.
“We weren’t us. When we’ve lost games, it’s been by the odd goal and we’ve been really aggressive and front-footed.”