Thierry Gale experienced a night of highs and lows as he fired Wanderers to an opening victory in the Vertu Trophy, writes Pete Oliver.
Gale scored a superb winner 37 minutes into the Group E tie against the Whites’ League One rivals.
But 10 minutes later he was dismissed for a late challenge on Millers’ defender Joe Raffert to leave Steven Schumacher’s men to negotiate the second half with 10 men on their way to maximum points.
They did so fairly comfortably with goalkeeper Tyler Miller only seriously called into action once to make an excellent save from Ciaran McGuckin to preserve the lead.
And with Gayle’s red card only costing him a ban in this competition it didn’t take much gloss off a productive evening.
Schumacher made multiple changes but still field a powerful line-up which allowed him to give valuable game time to a couple of new recruits and some of those still getting fully up to speed following summer injuries.
Deadline-day signings Marcus Forss and Cyrus Christie both showed what they will add on their debuts and there were also first starts for Sam Dalby and Richard Taylor, along with 18-year-old defender Ollie Smith who had a night to remember at right-back.
Dalby, feeling his way back from a pre-season injury, was unfortunate not to get himself on the scoresheet for the first time when he converted a cross from Aaron Morley before being belatedly flagged for a tight off-side call.
The striker went close a couple of other times, too, while Forss almost capped a lively first-half showing with his first Wanderers’ goal as Rotherham keeper Ted Cann came out smartly to smother his effort.
John McAtee also had an effort blocked but Wanderers’ superiority finally paid off when Taylor released Gayle to go it alone and drive into the box before steering an excellent angled effort into the top corner.
His dismissal led to a half-time re-shuffle and some extra leg work, although Wanderers also created chances to double their lead and put the tie to bed.
The impressive Xavier Simons was denied by Cann as he looked to go around the Rotherham keeper, who then kept out the follow-up from Joel Randall.
And while the visitors built up some late pressure to try and force a penalty shoot-out for the bonus point, Wanderers stood firm to keep a welcome clean sheet.
Miller played his part with a more commanding performance and with group games to come against Manchester City’s U21s and Oldham Athletic, 2023 winners Wanderers made the perfect start to their bid for a top-two place and qualification for the knock-out stage.
Wanderers: Miller; Smith (Warren 78), Christie (Dacres-Cogley HT), Forino, Taylor; Morley, Simons (Sharples-Ahmed 78); Forss (Randall 61), McAtee, Gayle; Dalby (Erhahon 61). Substitutes: Broome, Cissoko.
Sent off: Gale
Rotherham: Cann; Rafferty, Jules, Baptiste (Richardson 63); Kelly; Holmes (Powell 63), Clarke (Ayres 88), Gore (McWilliams 63), Kaleta; Hugill, McGuckin. Substitutes: Dawson, Yearwood, Duncan.
Booked: Kaleta
Referee: Andrew Humphries
Attendance: 2,063 (132)