League One table-toppers Rotherham United claimed their second EFL Trophy triumph on Sunday as they beat Sutton United of the division below in a truly enthralling contest at Wembley Stadium.
It looked for much of the encounter as though the League Two outfit would upset the odds and claim silverware from their inaugural campaign in the tournament — Sutton took the lead through Donovan Wilson before Ben Wiles equalised in sublime fashion for the Millers, but their advantage was extended not long after half-time through captain Craig Eastmond.
Deep into stoppage time, Rotherham levelled the scores once again through Arsenal loanee Jordi Osei-Tutu, and the Yorkshire side went on to overcome their opponents in extra time as goals from Chiedozie Ogbene and Michael Ihiekwe sent the travelling supporters home ecstatic.
Rotherham manager Paul Warne addressed the media after the match — these were his most noteworthy quotes.
On the overall performance
This was a match in which Rotherham were certainly favourites, but it turned out to be a much closer contest than many might have anticipated, with Sutton putting up a tremendous fight and Warne's side somewhat off the pace for much of the encounter.
The south Londoners deservedly led for the majority of regulation time but Rotherham's quality told in the end. The manager was particularly pleased with his team's response to the early setback in the second-half.
"It was a good game, we knew Sutton are a really good team," he said. "Matt [Gray, Sutton head coach] had them really organised and I thought they were braver than us in the first half, we just looked really nervous and I don't know why. We hadn't played for a few weeks, maybe we were a bit rusty, but I thought second half we were a lot better and created the chances to get back in it."
On the late equaliser
Rotherham undoubtably took charge of the match more authoritatively in the second period than they had in the first, however chances generally remained few and far between with the Sutton defence holding firm for the most part.
It felt as though Osei-Tutu's late, late equaliser would never come, and Warne admits he was resigned to defeat at one stage.
"Honestly, I was standing on the side of the pitch thinking, 'how will I word the commiseration speech?'. I didn't see us getting a goal that late and if they'd won it, I would have had no complaints as I thought Sutton were excellent. Fortunately we had enough in the end."