Paul Warne wants more of the same from his Rotherham battlers

Rotherham manager Paul Warne is challenging his side to maintain their high level of performance after they held Sky Bet Championship high-flyers Bournemouth to a 2-2 draw.

Junior Stanislas gave the Cherries the perfect start as he tucked away from the spot after Jamal Blackman had clumsily brought down Dominic Solanke.

Undeterred, Rotherham got level and then ahead either side of the break thanks to Freddie Ladapo.

The striker was on hand to drill in the leveller from Joe Mattock’s cross and then, in the second half, stood up what looked like a cross to the back post which deceived Asmir Begovic and dropped into the bottom corner.

Solanke earned the visitors the point as he headed home from Diego Rico’s cross.

Either side could have won the contest but Begovic denied Angus MacDonald’s acrobatic effort and Philip Billing’s shot from the edge of the box fizzed over the top of the bar.

A point apiece was arguably a fair result in the South Yorkshire mist and Warne liked what he saw.

He said: “It’s the most complete 90 minutes we’ve had this season. I thought we started really well – the first time they went into our box was when we gave away the penalty.

“I was worried how that would effect the lads but I think they gained so much confidence from their start. I think we were more than deserving of a point.

“The man of the match was their goalkeeper. He made some good saves and performed really well.

“The fact we are making arguably the best team in the league’s goalkeeper make saves is testament to our lads.

“All our set-pieces were a little bit more on point. You need a good delivery and aggression in the box. That was a real weapon in our arsenal.

“There were some outstanding performances. The goalscorers get the headlines but they were all headline makers. It should give them confidence but they have got to raise their game against Brentford in a few days.”

He continued: “One swallow doesn’t make a summer. The challenge is to play at this level over the next 30 games.

“I get frustrated when they don’t play well because I know how good they are. It should give them confidence.”

Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall said: “I am disappointed we haven’t won the game.

“This is always a difficult place to come with their style of play. You are going to face a lot of long balls and a lot of direct play.

“We had to stand up and do all the ugly stuff well. For large parts of the game we did that. We will take the point and move on. We dust ourselves down and look forward to Tuesday.”

The Cherries boss continued: “It was an ugly game, to be honest.

“I didn’t enjoy watching it because of the style of the game and I thought the referee wasn’t great for both sides. It was very stop-start. There was no flow to the game.

“We showed great character to get ourselves back in and we take the point.

“The two goals we conceded from were very poor. The first was from a throw in and the organisation wasn’t good. The second goal we didn’t defend anywhere near good enough.”