After Rovers’ hope of securing a late playoff place were ended at the hands of Millwall on Tuesday night, Elliott Bennett spoke, after the 1-0 away defeat, of his disappointment at not securing the club’s pre-season target.
“We’re all disappointed in the dressing room. We had a goal, internally, as to what we wanted to achieve this season, and ultimately, we’ve fallen short both tonight and over the course of the season. You end up where you end up in the table because it doesn’t lie. We can’t hide behind COVID-19 or the lockdown or anything like that because everyone’s in the same position and unfortunately, we haven’t managed to get where we want to be, this season. We’ve still got two games to go and we have to do everything we can to win those two games and make sure we finish the season on a high. Hopefully we can regroup over the summer and come back and mount a successful push next season.
“Of course, it hurts knowing that we’re out of it with two games left. We came back from lockdown fit and ready to go and we showed that with the win against Bristol City, but then we fell short against Wigan Athletic and Barnsley. I’m sure those games have been talked about enough in the past few weeks, but ultimately goals change games and we didn’t manage to score any in either game. We can’t tar the games with excuses because football is a team game, but ultimately as a team, we’ve fell short of our aims.
“Millwall had 15 clean sheets this season, before tonight and that’s what they live for. Scoring first and then sitting back is their way of playing. They’re a really hard-working, attrition team and we probably just lacked that final pass or bit of individual quality to open them up and grab a goal which would have forced them to open up and the whole game would have been different. It’s easy to say that in hindsight but we’re ultimately left disappointed.
“It seems like tonight has summed up our season. We have a strong belief within the dressing room, whether that’s in each other as players or in the gaffer and what we’re trying to achieve. We work hard every day in training and I don’t think anyone can criticise our effort, but we’re all in it together and over the course of the 44 games we’ve played so far, we haven’t been good enough to get into the top six, which is disappointing because that was our internal aim. Tonight, has shown what we’ve been struggling with all season in that we concede and don’t have the cutting edge to turn the game around.
“I can feel the progress we’ve made from 12 months ago. We’re a completely different team. We’ve got to last season’s total of 60 points without our star player in Bradley (Dack). He scores goals, that’s what he does. We’ve missed him for what is now probably six or seven months of the season. Greg Cunningham and Corry Evans were also big misses throughout the campaign, but I can’t stand here and make excuses because other teams are in the exact same boat. No team goes through a full campaign without having to deal with injuries. That’s what you have a squad of players for. We have a group who we believe in, but that final bit of magic that Dacky gives you is something we’ve probably missed since he’s been injured and that could have been the difference between us being on 60 points and out of the playoff picture or being on 66 points and being right amongst it heading into the final two games. Ultimately, that’s football and that’s what you have a squad for.
“We need to keep focus in order to end the season on a high and play for our pride. The gaffer won’t allow us to drop the ball and neither will anyone in the dressing room. We haven’t reached our goal, but we can’t ignore the final two games. Every time you cross the white line, no matter what’s at stake, you have to give 100%, play for your pride and fight for the shirt. Everyone in training always wants to be on the winning side, and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be the case in the final two games, even though we have nothing to play for. We don’t want the season to peter out, we need to give our all and see how many points we end up with.”
