RUFC - Evans explains the change today

Rotherham United Manager, Steve Evans might not have been pleased with the result today but was happy with the pride and passion the team showed.

And the boss was pleased with the start his side got when Ryan Cresswell scored in the second minute of the game.

Speaking to Radio Sheffield after the game about Cress goal, Evans said, 'We've spoken to Cressy about moving about in the box and not being static and we've done a little bit of work with that in the last couple of days and we got a great start today.

'The disappointing thing is that we didn't build on that start. We made certainly two clear chances where you'd expect players to score and the goalkeeper dropped one and it looked easier to score than miss and, over the ninety minutes, I think you'd say we didn't deserve to lose this game but we probably didn't do enough in the final third to come to a Shrewsbury Town who are a good side with a good manager and win.'

Asked what the idea behind Tom Newey's first start since the Millers last played Shrewsbury in the FA Cup in December, Evans said, 'We were worried about the strength Shrewsbury have in attacking areas. I told Woody (Sam Wood), had we been at home today there would have been no changes and, I'll tell you what, he accepted it as a real professional. I thought Tom was excellent today and produced a good individual performance. For me, Sam is more of an attacking player than a left-back and it's round pegs in round holes and Tom looked impressive in the last two days of training but things may change next week and we'll be back to attacking teams more at home and getting on the ball more. I think when Sam looks at the performance of Tom today he'll agree that he's not really a left-back.

'We're going to assess all the players and the players like Matt Tubbs speak to me every day because they want to come back and play for Steve Evans. We are hard on the players but we treat them fairly and they know that.'

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