Rotherham United boss delivered this verdict on Sunderland's emphatic win in Tony Mowbray's first game
Rotherham United boss Paul Warne said the trip to Sunderland was a 'game too far' for his players as their unbeaten start to the Championship season came to an abrupt end.
Sunderland ran out 3-0 winners in Tony Mowbray's first game as the club's new head coach, and Warne said he had complaints with the scoreline.
The Black Cats missed some good early chances but were far more clinical at the start of the second half, with Jack Clarke and Ross Stewart combining three times in under 20 minutes.
The absences of Grant Hall, Cohen Bramall and Cameron Humphreys made a big impact on the night.
"Firstly, congrats to Tony, it's good to see him back in the game," Warne said.
"It's always tough to face a team that's changed manager even if they're in a terrible run, and Sunderland have been playing really well.
"I thought in the first half we rode a bit of a storm, created a couple of half decent chances and on another day we might have nicked a goal. By the end of the half I thought it was pretty even, but we weren't as good as we normally are out of possession.
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"They switched the play too much, we let them out of throw ins too much, and we need to look at that because we ended up doing too much running.
"In the second half they played the game that we wanted to, they got the ball wide, had 1-v-1s, their attacking players had a good night.
"In fairness the scoreline could have been greater, they deserved their win and I've got no complaints about that.
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"I know what this league is like, and we need 11 players at their best for 90% of the game, and we didn't have that. We've had a really positive start, but tonight was obviously a game too far.
Rotherham now sit twelfth in the Championship season, two points behind Sunderland having played one game less.
Warne's side welcome Watford on Saturday, with Sunderland travelling to face Chris Wilder's Middlesbrough live on Sky Sports on Monday night.