'Tough', 'slow', 'stodgy' - Rotherham United manager Matt Taylor's view on his side's home defeat to Bristol City

Chiedozie Ogbene's seventh goal of the campaign on 25 minutes cancelled out an opener for City, which arrived when Wes Harding fired the ball into his own net from Nahki Wells's 14th-minute cross.

But slack defending on the Millers' right or the second occasion enabled one-time Barnsley loanee Joe Williams to restore the Robins' advantage on the half-hour from Tommy Conway's cross with the Millers struggling to make headway on the restart.

Cameron Pring's header 16 minutes from time settled the issue as the Millers went down to a third successive home defeat.

Taylor, who brought off captain Richard Wood at the break, said: "A couple of moments in that first half, in terms of basic goals against and basic delivery behind our backline was something we could not quite deal with.

"It was really tough. It was obviously where the ball was going to go and where the threat and unfortunately, we had a poor day defensively. The first-half was the real killer blow when we had a bit of life and air inside us, but it got punctured.

"I tried to shore that (defensive side) up in the second period and we had to chase the game and our execution and quality started to let us down in terms of where we needed to get the ball.

“In the second half, we didn’t create enough chances. They sat a little bit deeper. We did not beat enough players one versus one and there was not enough quality.

“We were a little bit slow and stodgy and we did not work the goalkeeper enough.

“Where we need to be as a team, defensively, we weren’t. Conway and Wells really hurt us.

“Today was a really big missed opportunity because we think we are well-matched with Bristol City.

“We should have had more to show at half time.”

Taylor’s opposite number Nigel Pearson commented: “These are always going to be tight games and I suppose we caused them similar types of problems to what they normally pose to their opponents.

“All three goals came from a ball from a wide area and that is encouraging for us.

“We are blessed with a bit of pace up front. The strikers (Wells and Conway) ran themselves into the ground. Neither were on the scoresheet but they were very much involved in the game.

“It was important to try and start quicker than them. They score a big proportion of their goals early in games and I think they are a very good home side.

“We always feel that we have got goals in us. We have not always had enough goals from midfield but Joe has popped up with one.”

Rotherham return to action next weekend with an away trip to Carlos Corberan’s West Brom.