A pulsating affair in South Yorkshire saw the points shared between Rotherham United and Blackburn Rovers, as the Lancashire side fought from two goals down to draw 2-2. A relieved Jon Dahl Tomasson spoke summarised the game to RoversTV, as he discussed his positives and negatives from a topsy-turvy afternoon.
“We saw entertainment today, but we’re left extremely frustrated and disappointed that we’re not leaving here with three points today. On the other hand, when you’re 2-0 down away from home and you come back to draw, you’re probably the happier of the two teams. We didn’t do enough of the right things in the first-half, we played too slow. We made no runs or any switches of play, but we did have the biggest chance of the half, in the penalty and if we scored that, we’re talking about a different game. We should give the lads a lot of credit for their resilience and mentality to come back in an away game. I think it was a miracle that Rotherham United didn’t lose, today, with all the chances we created.
“At 2-2, I thought we’d win the game given the number of chances we created, before and after the equaliser. It’s about doing the right things during those moments. The key was to come through via the wings, especially after both of our goals, but we couldn’t get it over the line. That’s frustrating, but the boys deserve great credit for their efforts in coming back.
“The players clearly have the quality to score the goals, but it was frustrating that it took so long. Before the game, I was looking forward to how we could cope, as a young group, with this difficult first away game. We didn’t cope well enough in the first-half because we were doing a lot of the wrong things, but afterwards, we showed resilience and togetherness. It was great to see just under 2,000 Rovers fans, today. I know they will be disappointed that we didn’t get three points, but I’m sure they would have been entertained.
“Any player can miss a penalty. I’ve missed penalties myself. Sammie (Szmodics) had a tough start to the afternoon with the miss and then the poor pass that led to Rotherham’s first goal. He was extremely disappointed, but he showed great character, as did the whole team, to fight back in the second-half and score two goals. He could have even had a hattrick!
“Sammie has a great mentality. Everyone can have a bad day at the office. The only thing you can try to do, is your best. He did that and scored two great goals. The team also created a lot of chances, so I’m happy with that second-half.”
The boss then discussed the new regulations surrounding the addition of added time, as well as the performance of match referee, Bobby Madley.
“I’ve said for a while that the rules should be changed years ago. Football is a great product for the fans, but it’s also education for young children. Complaining too much, not acting appropriately, there’s no reason for that. You should keep the ball in play because we want to watch football! Nine minutes of added time at the end, was not enough, given the amount of time-wasting that went on during the game. Last week, it was a different story, but today, it wasn’t enough if you look at all of their goal-kicks…they took ages!
“The Rotherham goalkeeper (Viktor Johansson) was taking too much time, after being booked. This is where, well I can’t say the word, but the ref needs to show ‘a bit‘.
“I think we’ve spent years killing the product and a lot of people within the game have had terrible attitudes, whether that’s managers, players and even referees who need help with rules. It starts, of course, with the manager and the players, and we need to stop killing the game and time-wasting. I and the fans want to see it in play as long as possible.”
