The reaction of Matt Hamshaw as Rotherham United extend their run on an emotional day
MANAGER Matt Hamshaw praised the heart of his players after watching his Rotherham United side today stretch their unbeaten League One record to nine matches.
The Millers reacted to going a goal behind to an in-form Wycombe Wanderers team on a similar kind of run by launching wave after wave of attacks in the second half and fighting back for a 1-1 draw.
The opposition will have departed AESSEAL New York Stadium feeling that they'd been involved in a real battle. “And that's just what I want,” said the boss.
He added: “Look, Wycombe are a really good team. They've got a really good squad, a really good manager and they're on a really good run – as are we.
“But I felt that we were the ones posing the questions. The opportunities that they got came from counter-attacks.
“I want teams to come here and know that they've had a game. I think that if you ask Wycombe, they'll say they've been in a game.”
A long injury list meant that Rotherham had only one fit striker in Jordan Hugill – and even he shouldn't have been playing a full game because of his heavily-swollen ankle.
Despite that, they earned a point through Kian Spence's 70th-minute leveller after Wanderers had gone in front early in the contest with a Jamie Mullins header.
The Millers went for the jugular after the interval and deserved to take something from the encounter even though their lack of numbers meant that Hamshaw had to mix and match his available men.
“I kind of rolled the dice,” the manager said. “I left Jordan on even though I'd told him he was going to play only 45 minutes. You've seen it at the end there, we've got people out of position.”
Before kick-off, there had been an emotional video and minute's applause in memory of 17-year-old fan Owen Jenkinson who had sadly died through cancer earlier in the week.
“I just can't fault the lads,” Hamshaw said. “I think today is about them, it's about Owen and it's about us as a club moving forward and making sure we all work hard and that we're there to support each other.”
When asked if the Millers had done enough to win, he replied: “I don't know, I'll leave that to you to write in your articles. I think that if you're a Wycombe fan, you'd probably feel that your side, on the counter-attack, looked a threat.
“We didn't have the options that they had the luxury of. I feel that if we'd had those options, we'd have caused more threats, certainly in that last 20 minutes when the game opened up.”