Well, that was more like it, not that much in the first half, but certainly in the second half. I made the 120 mile round trip across to South Yorkshire with my brother and a little bit more optimism than any away game I have travelled to: we just could not lose and anything other than three points would be quite embarrassing. Rotherham were–and still are–deep down in the mire and have only won once since we beat them in November last year. Plus, we lost to Swansea at home on Saturday and we really needed to bounce back.
It was not a top performance, I have to say, and the fans were becoming quite frustrated, especially in the first half, which was expected as we backed the team with over 2,200 fans, who were all desperate for a win. I have said this before and will say it again: playing out from the back is not the way to play for us; it is too slow, teams are wise to it and we get caught out too many times. Getting the ball forward and being more of a threat is the way for us, which paid dividends in the last half hour when we did this.
Rosenior made no changes to the starting eleven which lost to Swansea in our last outing, save for Billy Sharp replacing Ozan Tufan. It’s good that he started an attacker, but I'm not sure starting a 38-year old is the best option. We had Ohio and Connolly, who would have been the wiser options. Nonetheless, that meant we lined up as follows, in a 4-2-3-1 formation: Ryan Allsop betwixt the sticks; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Ryan Giles as the back four; Regan Slater and Tyler Morton just below them; Jaden Philogene and Anass Zaaroury on the wings and that leaves Billy Sharp leading the pack.
The game did not start as planned and this probably affected the flow of the match and our game plan: The Millers scored after just five minutes; Tiehi latched on to Seb Revan’s cross and saw his effort from the edge of the box take a deflection off Greaves and into the middle of the net. A disaster and now, just like the game on Saturday, the opposition had a leg up something to hang on to.
Moments later, they should have doubled their advantage when they caught us off guard; Sam Clucas, ex-Hull player, from the left flank stands up a ball into the area, which was met by Kioso, unmarked, who headed it down into the right-hand corner which was excellently clawed away by Allsop.
Rotherham seemed the much more energetic and snappy side in the first half and yet again we looked lethargic and lacklustre. We were keeping the ball nicely, but we weren’t doing much with it. There was a moment when Coyle had the ball in our own half and he just walked with it to the halfway line and held it for a while, frustrated that nobody was asking for it. Most of our players were like zombies and looked reluctant to move; the defence was quite slow at tracking back and Allsop was not releasing the ball quick enough. Perhaps the players are still trying to gel, but it appeared that there was a bit of tension and some inattentiveness.
Towards the last 20 minutes of the half we came out of our shell and finally started moving the ball forward. Billy Sharp had an amazing opportunity to stick it in the back of the net after a neat cross from Slater found him unmarked in the box, where he connected well with it and needed parrying away by Johansson, their keeper. Then, Jacob Greaves had a good chance after a nice ball in from Giles from a set piece was headed goalbound, but, again, Johansson came to their rescue with a remarkable save. Next, a swooping ball from a corner was met by an onrushing and unmarked Greaves who had two attempts before putting it into the side netting. Finally, Philogene’s outstanding overhead kick in the box was cleared off the line.
We finished the half on top and with something to build on in the next 45 minutes. Meagre at the beginning, but quality at the end.
The second half was much better and Rotherham ran out of steam; they were just booting the ball up field in hope of us making a mistake and the ball dropping to an attacker, but we have the best centre-backs in the league in terms of winning aerial duels, and it didn’t work. They were also giving away the ball cheaply and we began taking advantage by piling on the pressure and forcing the mistakes.
This was the pattern for 20 minutes and then Rosenior changed it up by taking off Anass Zaroury and Regan Slater and replacing them with Noah Ohio and Ozan Tufan, which changed the game drastically (in a good way); we drew level in the 71st minute. Anass Zaroury on the inside edge of the box picked up the loose ball from Coyle’s cross and he smashed it onto the frame of the bar, which came out to Rathbone, their midfielder, who could not get out of the box and misplaced his pass to Philogene, who danced past one man, dummied another before his rabona effort took the slightest deflection and sailed into the back of the net (you can watch ‘the goal of the century’ here), sending the fans behind the goal into complete pandemonium.
But, our celebrations were not cut short as just 4 minutes later, in the 75th minute, we scored again to take the lead. Ryan Giles had the ball and drove down the left flank, before sending in a low ball into the box which was met by Ohio, who rolled it into the right-hand corner of the net. I could not believe it (I do not think anyone could): one minute we look out of the race, the next we are in the lead–brilliant. This was a proper away day, one I have not seldom witnessed.
We could have even scored again sometime before the 90 minute mark when Ozan Tufan picked up the ball from a Rotherham attack, before skipping past his man and breaking down the right wing. He took it into the box and pulled it back to Docherty (subbed on in the 83rd minute for Billy Sharp, who played ok), who fluffed his first effort, but he managed to hold the ball and smash it at the keeper on his second attempt, which went behind for a corner.
My face dropped when I saw there was going to be 9 minutes of extra time–I don’t know where that came from–however, thankfully, we were able to handle it well, brush off Rotherham, who put their foot on the gas slightly, and hang on to those vital three points.
In the end, we deserved the win, but it only took us 60 minutes. If we do this against a top six team, like West Bromwich, who we play in our next home game, they will take advantage of our poor start and kill off the game quickly. Luckily, Rotherham are not at that level. Nevertheless, we are joint sixth with Norwich, with Coventry, Sunderland, Preston and even Bristol not far behind, so I won’t be expecting us to be where we are on Thursday. Alas, this win will give us a lot of momentum and confidence to go to Huddersfield, who are sitting just outside the relegation zone, and take something from there. But, par for the course, I won’t be getting my hopes up as we are very inconsistent.