18 September 2021

Paul Warne ‘really pleased’ with Rotherham performance in win at Bolton

18 September 2021

Rotherham manager Paul Warne says the spirit in his squad is soaring after the Millers moved into the top six with a 2-0 win at Bolton

Ben Wiles scored in the 18th and 21st minutes as Rotherham ended a 21-year wait for victory on Bolton soil.

Victory, secured in front of a bumper crowd as more than 20,000 fans attended Wanderers’ family day, underlined Rotherham’s desire to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.

“Bolton are a very good team and I think they will be easily in the top six,” said Warne.

“For us to come here having played so well in midweek (at Lincoln) and not got what we deserved, I am really pleased.

“We should be at least three points better off, but, generally, apart from one game, our performance levels have been good.

“The dressing room is in a good place and long may that continue. For the neutral the first half must have been brilliant because it was end to end.”

Wiles fired Rotherham in front with a fiercely struck left-footed shot and added a quickfire second with a smart downward header from eight yards from Daniel Barlaser’s corner.

“He goes under the radar at times,” Warne said of the match-winner.

“But he has a decent turn of speed and a good footballing brain.”

“For me though Olly Rathbone was the stand out player. He covered every blade of grass, but you have to when you play a very good possession based team.

“It was a great advert for English football. There can’t be many countries in the world where the third tier gets a crowd of 21,000. It was a great place for our lads to be earning a living.”

Eoin Doyle fired a shot against the outside of a post when he should have pulled a goal back for Bolton and George Johnston’s header from Josh Sheehan’s free-kick was disallowed for offside.

Wanderers dominated possession in the second half, but they only once worked goalkeeper Viktor Johansson through Lloyd Isgrove’s low drive and at the other end Rotherham’s Michael Smith was denied by a post.

But Bolton boss Ian Evatt saw enough from his side to be happy with the overall performance.

“We are a still very good team,” he said. “We created many opportunities, but that’s the harsh reality of football.

“Last week we took most of the chances (at Ipswich), We could easily have had as many goals but didn’t take them.

“If we had got one before half-time I genuinely believe we would have gone on to win the game.

“Their manager said to me they couldn’t get near us in the second half because of how we moved the ball. He said we were the best team they had seen.

“We will take good heart from that.

“However, it was one of those games. We could have played until Sunderland next week and still not scored.

“But if we carry on playing like that against these good teams, we will win more than we lose.

“They (the fans) will be disappointed by the result. Hopefully they have seen what we are trying to do and were impressed by our style of play.”

Evatt and Rotherham assistant Richie Barker were booked in a late touchline bust-up

“They are trying to slow the game down,” said Evatt. “When you grab the ball and put it under a seat, I then feel the need to go and get it.

“By me going to get it, I get yellow carded for going into their technical area. But I don’t know how I am going to get the ball back.”

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