Matt Hamshaw hopes Rotherham players take confidence from Exeter win

Rotherham manager Matt Hamshaw feels his players will get a significant confidence boost from beating Exeter 1-0.

Denzel Hall’s thunderbolt volley in the first half secured the win for Hamshaw’s side – only their second of the season.

Summer recruit Hall lashed home on the volley in the 39th-minute after a clearance fell kindly into his path and it proved to be the matchwinner.

Deadline day recruit Thomas Holmes came close to a first goal in Rotherham colours but his header was kept out by Joe Whitworth and Exeter striker Josh Magennis was also denied in injury time by an offside flag.

Hamshaw said: “I was really pleased. The form here has been really good – we’ve got to look at our away form.

“It’s an encouraging win which is good for the confidence of players and it’s a clean sheet which is most important.

“It’s a good three points and it gives us an opportunity to reinforce things we have been working on in previous weeks.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell was unhappy with the performance of his players and he felt they played into Rotherham’s hands.

He said: “I didn’t think we were good enough and I thought it was a poor game overall, to be honest.

“I don’t think they did much to put us under pressure but we weren’t brave enough in possession and it took us far too long to get going.

“We came to a stadium that was dead but we added loads of fuel by the way we played and we have to play with more personality because last week we were outstanding.

“For some reason we were a bit tentative and we have to find a solution to that.

“We have been excellent in games as well so we know players can get to that level.

“We started to play better in the second half but it was too little, too late.”