Vincent Kompany: Burnley should have been celebrating victory at Rotherham

Posted Wednesday, April 19, 2023 by PA

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany was left scratching his head as to how his side were held to a 2-2 draw at Rotherham, which leaves their Sky Bet Championship title-winning champagne on ice.

The Clarets would have become champions if they had bettered Sheffield United’s result and they looked on course for three points in South Yorkshire as quality goals from Scott Twine and Manuel Benson, either side of Vitinho’s own goal, put them ahead.

But the Millers hit back and took a deserved point when Georgie Kelly scored an 85th-minute equaliser and with the Blades beating Bristol City, the Clarets were made to wait.

A win over QPR on Saturday at Turf Moor will secure top spot.

Kompany said: “It was very unlikely I was going to come here and talk about a draw after the amount of chances we had.

“The performance was very good, I was happy with the flow of our game, we kept the game alive, we showed some really, really interesting ways of creating chances.

“I just feel sorry for the lads because they don’t reward themselves with a win. The two hardest chances we scored and the more bread and butter ones we missed.

“I have no complaints about what the outcome is, it still puts us in the same position in terms of what we can achieve on Saturday, but I feel bad for the lads because normally when you create chances like this you give yourselves the chance of three points.

“I can’t be negative about anything, this team has already achieved so much, you wonder how we are going to turn up and if that’s how we turn up then I can live with that.

“We wanted to put ourselves in a position where Saturday was possible and we’ve done that. At this stage of the season any point is a good point.”

Rotherham were up against it but battled hard in testing circumstances as they lost goalkeeper Josh Vickers and striker Jordan Hugill at half-time, with rookie goalkeeper Robbie Hemfrey handed his first ever senior appearance.

The point could go a long way to securing the Millers’ survival and boss Matt Taylor was pleased with his side’s spirit.

“The game had everything. This level and what it does to this group of players never ceases to amaze me,” he said.

“The goalkeeper getting injured in the first half, being unable to take goal-kicks and coming off at half-time, losing Jordan Hugill to injury, going behind twice, the spirit we showed was outstanding and I thought we deserved something.

“They were the better team, they have better quality players, but I thought we deserved something and it was important we got something to improve that belief.

“They are giving everything, they have done all season, even when we don’t look like we are playing well. We need to help them with their bodies and help with more quality, but that spirit was just there for everyone to see.

“We have to make sure we keep that going into the weekend, find a way to recover and see how the bodies are. If there is anything to get hold of for our fans, it was certainly a performance like that.”