Rooney wants Plymouth to be more 'nasty'

Wayne Rooney has led Plymouth Argyle to four wins in 14 games in all competitions this season

Wayne Rooney says his Plymouth players need to get better at the "nasty bits of the game" after their 3-3 draw with Preston.

The Pilgrims came back from 3-0 down to secure a point thanks to Morgan Whittaker's stoppage-time equaliser.

But Rooney was far from happy with his side's performance as they dropped to 21st place in the Championship, one point above the relegation places.

"The one thing I never question with the players is their character, they keep going until the end - they've shown that a few times this season," Rooney told BBC Radio Devon.

"But we need to be men - the nasty bits in the game.

"For so many years, the foreign players coming into the league - or we'd play in different countries - they were a bit cleverer than what we were and we need to improve that. We need to learn the little nuances of the game."

Former England captain Rooney added: "I'm not going to sit here and say 'cheat', but just being a bit smarter.

"There's little things where players con the referee, that happens in the game, and the foreign teams are always better than us at doing that, and I think we're at times a bit naive and we need to snap out of that."

Rooney said he was "angry" at his side's performance as they failed to win for a third successive game.

He says he understood why the Home Park faithful booed at half-time, but hopes they also appreciated his side's fightback.

"The fans had every right to boo a half-time and have a go at me or the players because that performance wasn't good enough.

"But they saw us pushing, they saw us make changes and we were getting more balls in the box and we're trying to get back in the game.

"You could feel the atmosphere growing as the game's gone on and towards the end I'm obviously delighted for them that we can at least get them a point."