Matt Hamshaw rues missing men after Rotherham United loss
FRUSTRATED manager Matt Hamshaw bemoaned the return of Rotherham United's injury problems as he reflected on the survival points that got away this afternoon.
The boss thought that his side were worth a win in the all-Yorkshire clash with Huddersfield Town at the Accu Stadium but they were beaten 1-0 by Lenny Agbaire's second-half own goal to remain in League One's relegation zone.
Midfield man Joe Powell returned to the squad after a hamstring issue, but a substantial number of other players were unavailable, mirroring the situation earlier in the campaign when absences were hitting hard.
“We're missing big players,” said the boss after a run of six matches in 19 days. “It's been tough because we've gone midweek, midweek, midweek. You've seen today, we had no Dan Gore, no Josh Benson, no Dru Yearwood.
“The list is kind of endless. I feel like we're back to that point earlier in the season when we had a lot of players out.”
As well as the aforementioned midfield men, Hamish Douglas, Marvin Kaleta, Jordan Hugill, Denzel Hall and Josh Kayode were also sidelined.
A first defeat in three outings kept the Millers in 22nd spot and saw the gap to safety grow by a point to three.
The visitors had chances to go ahead but paid the price for not taking them when Agbaire headed past his own goalkeeper, Ted Cann. They then had a flurry of opportunities in stoppage time that came to nothing.
“I thought the performance levels today were good,” Hamshaw said. “It's probably lacking a bit in that final third. I feel like I've said that in four or five interviews in these last six games.”
Rotherham finally have a free Tuesday and next up is next Saturday's visit to AESSEAL New York Stadium of high-flying Bolton Wanderers.
“We'll prepare properly,” the boss said. “We'll make sure that the lads perform and the effort levels are there, the same as they were today.”
Huddersfield were booed by their own supporters at times and there were sarcastic cheers when they registered their first effort on target as Murray Wallace forced a save from Cann in the 60th minute.
“It’s not nice, of course it’s not nice,” said Town head coach Liam Manning. “We’re in the game and have got everything to play and fight for. I’m not sure it helps the lads. But I understand why. People want to see us create and see us get into areas where we can cause problems.
“I know that the team did it earlier this year, but we conceded a lot of goals as well. There’s an element of wanting to be perfect in every area. I totally get it from the fans’ perspective.”
He said of the victory that pushed his team back into the play-off places: “It was a tough game. There are obviously loads of areas where we can improve. But at this stage of the season, a clean sheet and three points are the most important things.
“Winning games is extremely difficult and some of our performances at home have been very good. It’s probably the first time we’ve found it tough, up against a team that are scrapping and have been on a decent run of form over their past couple of games.
“We’ve conceded three goals from open play in 10 games, so there are a lot of good things we’re doing defending our box. We weren’t at our best, but we found a way to win.”