Millers boss Steve Evans spoke to BBC Radio Sheffield after his side's 0-0 League One draw against Carlisle at the New York Stadium, Evans saying his side lacked quality in the final third:
“That was very frustrating, I have just had a quick look at the stats and we had 19 efforts on goal. Obviously it was different in the second-half when we played against ten men but we’ve laid siege to their box and we have lacked a bit of quality in the final third. That doesn’t just fall on the strikers, it comes to the creative players in midfield as well. We end up taking pot shots from 35 or 40 yards, which is not us. I know we were unlucky once or twice when they have scraped things off the line and they have had ricochets go in their favour, but we need to be better in the final third than that.
“I think Carlisle sat back for a point from three o’clock, I don’t think they came here with any intention to attack and win a football match. But, at the end of the day when you go away with a 0-0 and you have been down to ten men then quite rightly those Carlisle players in those shirts deserve enormous credit. They have given their manager everything they have got and they have put their bodies on the line and they scrapped and they scraped and kicked balls off the line.
“We all know they nearly stole it at the end in probably their second time in our box in the second-half. So, when you see that happen you think well, we will take the point and we will move on to Coventry. But, I have just had a quick glance at some of the results today and our supporters can be unhappy that we didn’t break these down today, and quite rightly they should be. But, when they get home and look at the results they will see that in League One it is a very, very tough league in which to win football matches.
“I think our central midfield pair were poor today, I think Michael O’Connor and Lee Frecklington quite rightly have taken a lot of plaudits, but they will play a lot better. Listen, they have got great determination, great heart and when I say they were poor, they were poor with their quality, they weren’t poor in terms of effort.
“The boys from one to eleven have covered every blade of grass today, our decision making in the final third and our quality of passing in the final third was not the levels we expect to play with the players out there we have got. You are going to have days like that and we just had our day today when it is very frustrating when all the play is camped around their box."
“I don’t think our players were tired, I just think Carlisle came with a gameplan. I think their goalkeeper [Ben Amos] could have added on 12 minutes of added time couldn’t he and he got spoken to on three occasions. But, we see that on a regular basis here, people know they come here and they try to take the steam out of it. Every time we attacked and it went behind for a goal-kick or anything like that it was an eternity until the game restarted, every throw-in was an eternity until it came back onto the field of play.
“Really the match referee [Mark Brown] should protect that but he didn’t, he spent all afternoon waving his hands towards their goalkeeper and then added four minutes, which was strange with the number of substitutions etc. But, we shouldn’t need any more added time to break down a Carlisle team like we have faced today, we should be breaking them down ourselves.
“It is an opportunity missed but every game we play and we don’t get maximum points then it is an opportunity that we feel we miss. I think our effort and commitment and passion was up there and people, when you don’t win, supporters, or some supporters, will say it is not. But, it is there, the effort and compassion and will to win as the disappointment in the dressing room is very evident when we go in afterwards.
“So that is plain to see and today compared to last week we lacked our quality and movement in the final third. We had that here against Bradford and we had it away at Stevenage last week but we lacked it today a bit. If somebody had said to me today before the game that Coventry lose 5-1 at home to Tranmere and Peterborough get beat at home to Stevenage and Sheffield United go down to Bristol City and win, then it is a tough league to go and get wins.
“Today is another testimony to that but we didn’t play with any real zip in the final third and if we don’t play with a zip then we are not going to create the chances that we wanted to. In saying that we still made four or five good chances in that second-half and we should have won the game comfortably.”