Richie Wellens 'gutted' for Doncaster Rovers fans after performance against Rotherham United

Richie Wellens says he was ‘gutted’ that the travelling Doncaster Rovers support did not see more from their team against ten man Rotherham United.
Richie WellensRichie Wellens
Richie Wellens

Rovers fell to a 2-0 defeat in the South Yorkshire derby with Michael Smith scoring both goals for the Millers, who then played the final 40 minutes of the game with ten men following Mickel Miller’s dismissal.

While they dominated possession through the second half, Rovers’ lack of threat in front of goal continued as they failed to create chances in front of more than 1,700 travelling supporters.

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“To come away and have our supporters not see any good chances in the last half hour when they’re down to ten men, I’m gutted for them,” he said.

“It’s the first time I’ve not been happy as the manager.

“The last half hour flabbergasted me.

“They were down to ten men and all we said is just cross the ball, and when it comes out they will get a bit disjointed and then you can pick your way through.

“We carried on trying to play through the middle with too much tippy tappy rubbish to be honest.

“I thought in the first half when we got the ball down and played through them, we did it really easy at times.

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“But then we’d find pockets and turn back and allow them to get back into their shape.

“That was the frustration.”

Wellens was also disappointed that his side failed to carry out instructions to attempt to quieten striker Smith and deal with his physical dominance.

“Rotherham showed where they’re at and we showed where we’re at,” he said.

“They’re a good physical team that was in the Championship last year and at the moment we’re not at the level we want to be.

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“At times we looked really good. We can play through teams but we need that threat.

“The big disappointments for me are that we didn’t put a front screen in on Smith, we didn’t compete physically against them when we knew that was coming.

“And to go down to ten men with 35 minutes to go and all we’re asking is for them to put the ball in the box, we just didn’t do it.

“When we did, our quality wasn’t there.”

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