Super-sub McMillan praises Sligo's resolve

SLIGO Rovers’ Evan McMillan played the role of super-sub in his side’s 2-1 victory over Athlone Town on in The Showgrounds on Saturday night.

The defender, also known to play up front, was introduced to the game with 14 minutes remaining and showed a striker’s instinct as he found himself in the right place at the right time to latch onto a ball from John Russell to put Rovers in front with just three minutes of normal time remaining.

Despite an impressive performance in Sunday’s President’s Cup tie against St. Patrick’s Athletic, McMillan was dropped to the bench for Sligo League opener. Speaking to the assembled press, he admitted his disappointment at not starting, but was confident he would get game time, albeit in an attacking role.

“It was very disappointing not to be playing, it was a bit of a shock to me and I kind of joked to the lads that my only chance of getting on was probably up front because we are low on attacking players, even Raff (Cretaro) was struggling a bit, he wasn’t sure if he would be coming on. We got to a point where Ian felt we needed to make changes and I was excited about possibly playing that role, I had pushed him about doing it more and more and I don’t think he likes to play me in that role, but he needed me there tonight and I was happy to play my part.

“Looking at the bench, it was really only Raff that can play one of the front three roles, so I always fancied myself up there and I knew there was always a chance with us missing Danny (North), Kieran (Djilali) and a couple of others and I always thought if we were struggling in the game he might give me a chance so I was excited to do it when he called me.”

Evan reflected on his time as Bohemians top striker during the 2012 season and despite having a decent record as a front man, he believes most of his appearances at The Showgrounds will see him play as part of the back four.

“I really enjoyed it at Bohemians, I did for around the last third of the season I was there and got myself nine or ten goals so it’s always an option. I always want to be starting, but it’s obviously more likely I will be starting centre-back than centre-forward but hopefully either way I can get myself in the team next week.”

The 27-year-old revealed that the FAI Cup holders would not accept anything less than a victory against Athlone and was pleased that the home side continued to persevere and grind out three points against a team who set up to frustrate them.

“It was a huge win tonight, we wouldn’t have taken a draw and would have seen it has two points dropped. It was setting up like last year where when we couldn’t get an early goal the other team would sometimes get a lucky break like Athlone got with the penalty. Teams will come here looking to score goals, getting a penalty or from a set piece, but it is up to us to be patient and look to break them down and that’s what we did tonight.”