Leam Richardson praises resilient Rotherham after draw at Blackburn

Posted Tuesday, January 02, 2024 by PA

Manager Leam Richardson praised Rotherham’s mindset after they fought back to claim a vital 2-2 draw at Blackburn.

The Championship’s bottom club went into the game with two draws and six goals on the road all season and Arnor Sigurdsson’s stabbed finish in the eighth minute put them on the back foot.

Sean Morrison’s close-range effort restored parity before the break, only for Sammie Szmodics to roll in his 16th of the season less than 40 seconds after the restart.

But Tom Eaves powered in a low header late on to secure a resilient point.

Rotherham have picked up points in three of Richardson’s six games in charge and he saluted his team’s effort.

He said: “I thought we started both halves unlike ourselves and were punished. Very respectful of Blackburn. They’ve got some good players, been together for a while and quite fluent in what they’re doing.

“But for the level of effort and endeavour in what we are trying to do with the bodies – I don’t think there will be another team in the country who’ve used less bodies than us over the Christmas period – it’s commendable to the players so they take the credit for this period. Take the point and move on.

“They didn’t give up. The game got stretched, possibly doing the wrong thing for the right reasons at times, but we tried to take control of the game. The subs helped us. To go behind at any stage is difficult so to have the mindset to come back into the game and possibly go and get more from it is pleasing.”

Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson admitted his team needed a two-goal lead after watching his side drift from the play-offs with a run of one point over the festive period.

He said: “With the performance we probably deserved more. We knew we were playing a team fighting against relegation.

“We knew what they were good at, second balls, chaos moments, set plays, crosses into the box and defending in a low block which they did really well so I was impressed with the amount of chances we were able to create.

“This team probably needs a 2-0 lead when you’re playing against teams good at set plays. The goals we gave away on set plays, we should have done better.

“The second goal, we should also have done better. First of all preventing the cross where we had two against one at the side and two against one in the box where we are losing that dual.

“But I think the amount of chances was a lot. I think the goalkeeper of the opponent was probably the best player. He was excellent.”