Gills boss wants players to start games better after defeat at Rotherham
Peter Taylor said his side cannot afford to start games in the way they did against Rotherham after watching his team lose 4-1 to the Millers at New York Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts controlled play in the first half and were 3-0 up before the interval thanks to goals from Nouha Dicko, Kieran Agard and Ben Pringle, and although Cody McDonald pulled one back, James Tavernier scored on 76 minutes to seal victory.
Speaking after the game Peter said: “The first half Rotherham were miles better than us, absolutely miles better than us in every way. They were first to everything, deserved to be at least 3-0 up and it was a very poor start from us.
“We need to learn from that because if you don’t start right and you let teams get momentum like we did for Rotherham then you’re going to get punished.
“In the end we could have been lucky that it was only three.
“I explained to them [at half time] that you cannot possibly start how you fancy, you’ve got to start right and strong. You need to start hard to play against and start getting first to the ball and we were nothing like that.
“You saw everything that was very good about Rotherham and that was us, I think, not doing our jobs because we were second to most things.
“You’ve got to give credit where credit is due and I thought Rotherham played exceptionally well in the first half.
“In the second half I think we calmed it down a little bit but that’s what happens sometimes, teams take their foot off a little bit and it gives you a chance to do a little bit better.
“It was nice to get back but I think as much as you would love to say you’re going to get back from the first half performance, I think we had to score exceptionally quickly and then play it much better than we did.
“So overall not a good day, I can’t tell any lies on that one and I can’t say there were excuses. There isn’t.”