What Paul Warne thought might be the cause of Rotherham United's defeat to Charlton Athletic

The Millers beat Sutton in the Papa John’s Trophy final last weekend and it was supposed to provide a boost for the final run-in, especially as the trophy was paraded around the AESSEAL New York before kick-off.

But after a 1-0 defeat to the Addicks, the Wembley win was put down for the cause as boss Paul Warne said his side were emotionally fatigued.

George Dobson’s fine strike after the break won it for Charlton and further derailed Rotherham’s promotion hopes.

The Millers have won just one of their last six games and have seen a 10-point gap above third turn into a three-point deficit, though they do have two games in hand.

But on the evidence of their recent performances there are no guarantees they will win those.

“We just were not at our best,” Warne said.

“Whether it's after the Lord Mayor's show or emotional fatigue, I don't want to use that as an excuse.

“I am not sure we deserved to lose but I don't know if we did enough to win.

“I thought our first-half performance was OK. We looked like we were going to nick a goal.

“I thought if we got one, we'd go on and win handsomely, but it wasn't the case and it is happening a few too many times at home at the moment.

“After they conceded we didn't play well enough to get back into it. Realistically we haven't worked their keeper enough.”

Rotherham’s slide has been alarming given how assured of promotion they looked previously.

Warne said: “I am concerned. The good thing is, I know the lads really well so I know they're desperate to win more than anyone.“Maybe that spills out into a psychological block. We definitely need to help the lads with that. We've got six games left.

“They're all winnable but they're all difficult in their own right. I want to come across uber-positive and say we've got six games left and we'll win six.

“It isn't like that. I've seen from the second-half performance that the odd plaster isn't going to be enough to solve the problem.

“We're seeing the lads in the morning and will go through it. Hopefully, collectively we can perform better on Tuesday night and get ourselves going again.”