NEIL Warnock has revealed why he didn't make a substitute earlier than he did in a bid to get something against Aston Villa on Tuesday.
The boss was forced to take off Dwight Gayle through illness and replace him with Fraizer Campbell at half-time, but some fans have questioned why another pair of fresh legs weren't thrown on with the game entering its final quarter or so.
It wasn't until the 89th-minute that Jason Puncheon came on, and Warnock has defended his tactics, stressing his players were giving their all to grab an equaliser.
"You couldn't get any more out of the players on Tuesday apart from goals," he told the Advertiser.
"It was disappointing and I guess nothing is going to be straight-forward for us.
"I thought we created enough. If I didn't think we were, I would have brought Jason Puncheon on a lot sooner, and by that time we had four forwards on.
"The only other thing is would I have taken Wilfried (Zaha) off? Or Yannick (Bolasie) off? Both looked like they could create something.
"The only other option would have been to bring a defender in maybe to knock some balls in to the danger areas."
By Mark Ritson (Twitter @MR_LWMedia)