Raynor slams 'lack of effort'

The 3-0 defeat to Southend marked the end of Steve Evans' six-game ban and Rotherham saved the worst until last, says assistant Paul Raynor.

It was Britt Assombalonga who led the Southend goal charge. His first-half effort was ruled out for offside, but he nodded home David Martin's cross after 51 minutes and then added a second 14 minutes later from Sean Clohessy's cross. He had a hand in the third. His shot was pushed on to the crossbar by Millers goalkeeper Scott Shearer and Martin headed home the rebound from close range. Raynor said: "Steve's (Evans) on the floor and I'm on the floor after that. I am lost for words if I am honest. Sometimes you have to take it on the chin. It's easy to gloss over things and put a positive slant on things and find positives in performances, but I can't find one if I am honest. "There seemed to be a lack of desire, a lack of passion. We didn't win enough first balls or enough second balls. I thought Southend were excellent if I am honest. We had players out there hiding and I hate to say that. I cannot stand in front of many of them and say, hand on heart, they gave us everything because they didn't. "When you have seven or eight players who didn't function, who didn't work hard enough for their team-mates, you give yourself no chance to win the game. "You need desire and you need effort to win matches. There was a lack of effort in people in the red shirt and that is disappointing. We asked players for a response but there was a lack of spark and I think there will be some casualties because of this."