ALAN STUBBS is refusing to admit defeat with Rotherham anchored at the foot of the Championship.
The ex-Celtic defender and former Hibs boss saw his side collapse to their eighth league defeat as they went down 3-1 to Alex Neil’s Norwich City pacesetters.
Stubbs’ strugglers are now three points adrift of Owen Coyle’s Blackburn Rovers and four behind Gary Caldwell’s Wigan.
The under-pressure gaffer said: “We were playing against a Premier League group of players in all but name and when we made it 2-1 we gave them a little scare.
“Norwich are a good side and they deserved to win, but the lads gave it a good go and had we been up against a lesser side we might have got something from it.
“It’s the easiest thing in the world to accept your fate, it’s much harder not to accept it and go out there and try and do something about it.
“That’s what I told the players at half-time and I thought they did well in the second-half.
“The lads are going out there and doing the best they can and that is all you can ask of them.
“If they keep doing that, and keep working hard, things will turn for them, I am sure of that.”
Ex-Hamilton boss Neil said: “We had a lot of the ball, created lots of chances and the only complaint I could make is that we didn’t win by a bigger margin.
“In the first half, I thought we were a little bit wasteful because it could easily have been 3-0 at half-time and I don’t think they would have had any complaints.
“When we made it 2-0 I thought we would comfortably see out the game, but then a wee bit of sloppiness on our part lets them back into it.
“I think we are where we deserve to be because you don’t get there by chance. But, as I keep saying, there is a long way to go yet.”
Forgotten on-loan Hoops midfielder Scott Allan made his reappearance for the Millers as a substitute with only two minutes to go.
Darnell Fisher, bought from the Hoops in summer, set up his side’s consolation goal for Dexter Blackstock.
Wes Hoolahan, Cameron Jerome and ex-Rangers (IL) ace Steven Naismith netted for the Carrow Road side.
For Stubbs it must seem a very long way from that wonderful afternoon in May when he led Hibernian to their first Scottish Cup win in over a century and denied their Ibrox opponents their first ever major trophy.
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