Rotherham United boss Steve Evans' contrition over comments to journalist

ROTHERHAM United manager Steve Evans couldn't quite bring himself to say ‘sorry’ but admits he now regrets the tone of his after-match interview following his side's loss at Leyton Orient.

The boss bristled at some of the questions being posed and accused a journalist of being too negative on Tuesday night minutes after the final whistle had blown on a 1-0 Millers League One loss at Brisbane Road.

The Scot took the chance at a press conference today to back down from his midweek stance.

“Of course he was just asking the questions he should have asked,” Evans said. “Listen, I'm passionate, aren't I?

“I've come out of the dressing room and there have been strong words in there, good and bad. I'm going to defend my team every step of the way, as people would expect.

“But, on reflection, there were no questions that were untoward. I'll stop shy of apologising to a journalist, I'll just say that perhaps he'll understand my passion immediately after a game.

“Passion played a massive part. I'm a bad loser, it's well documented.”

Rotherham head into this weekend's visit of Evans' former club, Stevenage, looking to get back on track after two successive losses.

They were eyeing closing in on the play-off reckoning after a run of four games without defeat but have since gone down to Wrexham and Orient and find themselves 17th in the table.

The Millers will definitely without striker Jonson Clarke-Harris and centre-half Jamie McCart through injury on Saturday while a third missing man, central defender Sean Raggett, is also expected to be absent.

“We're missing some key players who were signed to give us a much-improved squad,” Evans said. “We're still trying to get players to find their best form. We have to help take them to the level they need to be at.”