Warne: We got the tactics spot on

The decision to bin the more familiar 4-4-2 formation and go with a five-man midfield at the DW Stadium paid dividends as Rotherham nullified the dangerous home attack to earn a 0-0 draw.

And Warne believes that with a bit more luck his team might even have taken all three points.

“I have to give credit to the backroom staff. We got the tactics spot on,” he said. “We didn’t go gung-ho, we were more like a 4-1-4-1. On a braver day, if we’d needed a win to get in the top six, I might have stuck a centre-forward on and I would have done the same if we’d been chasing the game.

“That wasn’t the case and at the end neither the Rotherham nor the Wigan fans could complain at the spoils being shared.

“We asked the lads to be brave on the ball and to frustrate when they didn’t have it and they did that.

Marek Rodak tussles with Wigan dangerman Will Grigg.

“We started well and could have gone one or two up. Wigan were excellent at the start of the second half. They’re the best team in the league by a country mile but we defended well and rode the storm. I thought we were by far the better team in the last 20 minutes and on another day we might have nicked it.”

Warne thought Rotherham should have had a penalty for handball in the second half but had no other complaints. He was also chuffed to see Michael Ihiekwe, Jon Taylor and Ryan Williams come back into the side after lengthy spells out and play their part.

He added: “Ihiekwe was outstanding and Williams and Taylor gave us a real energy down the sides.

 “A few teams around us were hoping we’d drop three points today, it was a good day at the office.”

The Millers chief revealed that Joe Newell and Anthony Forde had missed training all week. Newell, who had a sore quad, is fit again and could come into contention for Tuesday’s trip to Gillingham.

Rotherham remain seven points clear of seventh-placed Portsmouth and well on course to reach the play-offs with four games to go.