We need to get back to what we're good at, says Millers chief

The manager and his players spent half-an-hour after the final whisle at The Valley discussing what went wrong in the limp 3-1 defeat to Charlton Athletic.

A run of four defeats in six has seen Rotherham’s cushion to seventh spot trimmed to five points. While a League One play-off place is still theirs to lose, Warne hopes the increased pressure might re-focus the team.

He said: “I don’t normally have the lads in for half-an-hour after games to discuss where we went wrong but we did today because we feel that with six games left we need to put a flag in the ground and say ‘enough’s enough, we need to get back to what we’re good at.’

“It was only 72 hours ago that we conceded in the 98th minute to take a deserved win against Peterborough away from us. With those extra two points we could have been further clear. I know we’re not but this might re-focus us.”

Michael Smith heads for goal.

Warne had no qualms with the result, acknowledging that Charlton were the better side. It was their third win on the spin under caretaker boss Lee Bowyer and lifts them to sixth.

The Millers chief added: “I always think winners have to do more and Charlton did more than us to win the game. In both boxes and defending corners they always had first contact and when we were defending free-kicks and corners I don’t believe we did. I can’t physically go on and head the ball for them. I just want a bit more desire in both boxes and if we’d had that then the scoreline could have been different."