Matt Taylor felt Rotherham were good value for draw at Hull

Posted Sunday, April 02, 2023 by PA

Manager Matt Taylor felt Rotherham were good value for what could prove an important point following their goalless draw at Hull.

The Millers are just above the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone but they deserved to leave East Yorkshire with a share of the spoils.

They also had to work especially hard once substitute Domingos Quina was sent off for a professional foul after 79 minutes.

Taylor said: “When you go down to 10 men away from home it was always going to be difficult, but I was pleased with the performance.

“Hull are a good, possession-based team but with that possession there’s got to be an end and they didn’t hurt us that much.

“We perhaps didn’t do enough from an attacking perspective – we didn’t really make their goalkeeper work hard enough – but we reacted in a really positive way (following the sending-off).

“Points are going to be picked up from all teams down there, so I’m so pleased that we took something away from this.

“It could have been heartache, but this has got to be our start, our middle and our end.”

A near-sell-out crowd at the MKM Stadium might have expected a more stimulating game, but Rotherham were resolute from the outset and were also a threat from set-pieces.

A disjointed match could have sparked into life had Ryan Longman not been denied by decisive Rotherham goalkeeper Viktor Johansson in a one-on-one situation after 27 minutes.

Hull substitute Ozan Tufan also went close in the second half when his sharp hit was deflected off Shane Ferguson and onto the crossbar.

The hosts unsurprisingly finished the game strongly once Quina was sent-off for a foul on Adama Traore on the edge of the penalty box.

But Hull were continually frustrated by a combination of stout Rotherham defending and a lack of direction inside the final third of the pitch.

Taylor said: “We had a bit of luck in terms of that crossbar moment, but they’ve got some outstanding players, let’s not forget that.

“We kept their attacking moments limited and then we put our bodies on the line in the last 20 minutes.

“I can’t fault the performance in any way.”

Of the sending off, Taylor said: “It was a red card. It was the right decision.

“I’m happy with the performance, but we can’t keep on having players unavailable – it really takes its toll with a small squad like ours.

“We’ve just got to get on with it, roll up our sleeves, and hit the Easter weekend as hard as we can.”

Mid-table Hull have won once in nine Championship games, with head coach Liam Rosenior increasingly concerned by his side’s inability to score goals.

He said: “It’s frustrating. We have to score the chances we create.

“If we do score early, we go on to win comfortably. We had enough quality on the pitch but we were not ruthless enough.

“We started the game really, really well and then Rotherham did what they’re very good at – which is breaking up the game.

“We have created more than enough chances to win two games. We had 14 shots on goal and just one on target.”

On whether or not Quina fouled Traore inside the box that led to his sending off, Rosenior said: “It could have gone either way. For me, the contact is in the box, but I’m not going to speak about refs again.”

Rosenior added: “Everyone can see what we’re doing without the tangible results. We are here to win football games and score goals.

“We have to make sure that the final margins count in the final third.

“It’s stage by stage. We’ve stabilised the team since I came here but the performances have deserved many more points.”