Wanderers’ wait for a win at Rotherham goes on after the Whites continued their hit-and-miss start to the new year, writes Pete Oliver.
It’s now 20 games since Wanderers tasted victory at Rotherham in a run stretching back to 1966.
And their latest trip ended in further disappointment as the Millers handed Ian Evatt’s men a defeat which made it two wins and two losses since Boxing Day and ground still to make up on the top six.
In the only League One game to beat the weather – thanks to a heated cover on the pitch all week – Rotherham extended their own unbeaten run to four games thanks to two first-half goals and then a third on the break before John McAtee’s late goal proved too little to mask another difficult afternoon for the Whites.
Wanderers gave an instant debut to new signing Joel Randall as the only change to the side which had started last week’s win at Exeter and the former Peterborough man was in the thick of the action straight from the start.
His first touch came up short and gave Rotherham a chance on the break which ended with Nathan Baxter’s fine save from Sam Nombe. But the link-man quickly made his presence felt at the other end with a shot diverted just wide by George Johnston.
Randall’s counter-attack also earned the free-kick Aaron Morley delivered for Will Forrester to steer an effort at Millers’ keeper Dillon Phillips, while the midfielder’s combinations with the Whites’ frontmen threatened to open up the home defence.
It was often nearly but not quite for Wanderers as they broke with purpose but Rotherham also had chances when they delivered the ball into the box as Nombe put an effort over the top, Shaun McWilliams headed wide and Mallik Wilks fired into the side netting after a slip from Ricardo Almeida Santos.
And the next time those two came together it was Wilks who got the verdict of a penalty decision as Almeida Santos was forced into a last-ditch challenge as the Rotherham man was allowed to burst into the box, the Wanderers’ defender also earning a yellow card after a lengthy debate between referee Andy Young and one of his assistants.
The injured Young was replaced shortly afterwards by fourth official Paul Cooper and as Wanderers looked to re-group following a lengthy stoppage they went close to a leveller when another swift counter ended with Randell Williams pulling the ball back for Morley to curl an effort just over the bar.
But in the seven minutes of added time before the break it was the Millers who, crucially, struck again to double their lead when a clearance from Morley was blocked and Reece James struck an angled volley beyond Baxter to make it 2-0.
Wanderers desperately needed to score the next goal but in a poor start to the second half it was again Rotherham who were too easily allowed to seize the initiative through strikes from Joe Rafferty and Joe Powell and it took a vital save from Baxter to prevent Wilks adding a second when he was given another run at goal and the chance to potentially seal the points.
With an hour gone that prompted a double change from Evatt as he sent on Josh Dacres-Cogley and Dion Charles and within minutes Charles could have pulled a goal back to get Wanderers back in the game. A superb cross-field pass from Morley - doing his best to drive the Whites forward - picked out Schön but from his low cross Charles steered his effort wide as he arrived in front of goal with a perfectly timed run.
And that proved to be Wanderers’ last hope of mounting a fightback as Rotherham finally wrapped it up 14 minutes from the end with another decisive counter-attack. As Wanderers committed to attack, Cameron Humphreys’ ball over the top left Powell in the clear and although Baxter saved his effort, Nombe reached the loose ball first to slot home.
There was time for McAtee to find the net on his return to South Yorkshire as the former Barnsley loanee slotted home his sixth goal of the season from a nice Morley pass and had Charles then got a decisive touch to Dacres-Cogley’s low cross moments later it could have got interesting in the final few minutes.
But in reality Wanderers could have no complaints at a defeat that extends their unenviable record at Rotherham with big back-to-back home league games to come now following a mid-week EFL Trophy trip to Lincoln City.
Wanderers: Baxter; Forrester, Almeida Santos, Johnston; Williams (Dacres-Cogley 60), Morley, Thomason (Charles 60), Schön; Randall; McAtee, Collins. Substitutes: Jones, Osei-Tutu, Matete, Lolos, Adeboyejo.
Booked: Almeida Santos
Rotherham United: Phillips; Rafferty, Odoffin, Jules, James; MacDonald (Bramall 67), Humphreys, Powell; McWilliams; Nombe, Wilks. Substitutes: Dawson (GK), Kelly, Clarke-Harris, Hugill, Green, Holmes.
Booked: Humphreys
Referee: Andy Young
Attendance: 10,258 (2,166 Wanderers)