REACTION: Boss laments three tight decisions
MILLERS manager Paul Warne rued missed opportunities but confessed his side didn’t get the rub of the green as they were pipped by potential play-off opponents Plymouth Argyle.
Warne didn’t think Will Vaulks’ challenge on Graham Carey that gave the Plymouth man the chance to hand the home side a last-gasp 2-1 win from the penalty spot was a spot kick.
He also thought the officials were wrong to chalk off Caolan Lavery’s second-half effort for offside but had few qualms with a similar call against David Ball earlier on.
Warne, though, also believed Rotherham could have gone home with all three points if they’d been more clinical in front of goal.
On the spot kick, he said: “The referee from his angle thinks it’s a penalty, I don’t from my angle but it is all about opinions, isn’t it. I don’t think my team deserved it.
“My analyst has shown us the video and Lavs looks onside. For the first-half effort, by Bally, his arm was offside but it’s the smallest of margins. It is hugely disappointing.
A thanks for the travelling fans at Home Park from Richard Wood.
“Sometimes you just don’t get the decisions you need, especially away from home, and today we were probably a bit unlucky with both pf those.
“It’s just a pity we didn’t take our chances when we got them and it sums it up that their goalkeeper got the man of the match award.
“The lads are hurting, and I hope they are because we don’t want to lose football matches, but we have to learn to be more ruthless going into the play-offs.”
With a decent performance to reflect upon and no harm done to Rotherham’s league position, it wasn’t the most painful defeat to endure in the penultimate match of the regular season.
While acknowledging that, Warne still doesn’t want to take any losses into the end-of-season deciders.
He added: “If I played tiddly winks with my kids I’d want to beat them. We set up to win and the lads didn’t deserve that. I’m all about psychology in sport and confidence and taking wins into play-offs but one lesson you can learn is that if you don’t take chances in games then you’re not going to win.”
Rotherham's most likely play-off semi-final opponents remains Charlton or Scunthorpe, both of whom scored victories on the day, but Plymouth, still seventh, will be right back in the mix should they win at Scunthorpe on Tuesday.