RUFC - 'Christmas is a Vital Period'

Rotherham United skipper, Graham Coughlan, says that the amount of games over the Christmas period could make or break the season.

The Millers have five games from tomorrow at Bradford until Macclesfield come to Millmoor on New Years Day and Coughlan told The Advertiser that the league can change between the beginning and end of December.

'Look at Rochdale,' he pointed out, 'they will be trying to jump on the back of the win they got against us last week. They'll think with the games coming thick and fast they can get some good results, climb the table and put in a challenge.'

Talking about the defeat on Saturday, Coughlan said, 'I think they adapted better than us to the wet conditions. We lost the game in the first half - when we got in some good positions we decided to shoot from silly angles instead of fizzing the ball across the box - that let us down. But full credit to Rochdale. It's horrible losing and we aren't good losers. But I've reminded the boys that we've only suffered three defeats in the league and if we get to forty games with only six defeats we will be well on course. We didn't enjoy our weekend and we were down after Saturday but it's not the end of the world. And, as we keep saying, 'good teams don't lose two on the bounce'.

'By Monday we had put it behind us and are looking forward to going to Bradford. It's nice playing in derbies because it adds a bit of spice.'