Wayne Rooney saw his Plymouth side lead three times against Middlesbrough before eventually drawing a six-goal thriller, which saw the Pilgrims slip to the bottom of the Championship
Wayne Rooney saw his Plymouth side lead three times against Middlesbrough before eventually drawing a six-goal thriller, which saw the Pilgrims slip to the bottom of the Championship Wayne Rooney saw his Plymouth side lead three times against Middlesbrough before eventually drawing a six-goal thriller, which saw the Pilgrims slip to the bottom of the Championship
Wayne Rooney claims his Plymouth side were “naive” as they eventually drew 3-3 against Middlesbrough
The Manchester United legend saw his side slip to the bottom of the Championship after Hull City had picked up three points earlier in the day. Plymouth’s draw at Home Park snapped a run of four losses on the bounce.
Rooney will be bemoaning his team’s inability to take all three points after they led on three occasions against Middlesbrough before eventually settling for a share of the spoils. The visitor’s got their third equaliser with six minutes left of the 90.
The Pilgrims have now won just once in their last 11 games and have to go back to early November for their last victory, which came against Portsmouth.
Rooney told BBC Radio Devon: “It’s frustrating. Reflecting on the game I thought first half we were excellent, both in possession and out of possession. I thought we got the press right, nullified the way Middlesbrough wanted to play – they’re a very good attacking team and very good at taking the ball and playing through the lines.
“We were unlucky to go into the break only 1-0 up, and then second half we concede early, Middlesbrough then started getting control of the game a bit. But we were still creating good chances and good opportunities to score, so I think based on chances alone we probably deserved to win the game. I’m a little bit disappointed we didn’t do better for two of the three goals, I think we were a bit naive.”
Plymouth have now conceded 17 goals in their past five league games and 45 in total this season. The next highest is Oxford United with 37.
Middlesbrough themselves lost ground on their top six rivals with the Teeside outfit unable to take advantage of a loss for Blackburn Rovers, who remain in fifth. The meeting in Devon pitted Rooney against his former United team-mate Michael Carrick.
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Image:
Hannah Fountain)
Rooney and Carrick won numerous Premier League titles alongside each other at Old Trafford. They also claimed the Champions League in 2008 with both men looking to prove themselves in the dugout. Neither Rooney nor Carrick have yet managed in the top flight.
The ex-Everton man has confirmed, in a bid to aid Plymouth’s survival hopes, that he is pushing his players even harder as he hopes to take advantage of the hectic December schedule with games to come against Coventry City and fellow strugglers Oxford.
“We’ve actually stepped the training up to train harder,” he told BBC Radio Devon. “I feel it’s really important from now until mid-January that we step the training up because that gives your body a resilience to try and prevent injuries. We’re trying different things to make sure we get the players in the right condition to get through the next three weeks.”
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