Preston North End 1 Rotherham United 1
Barkhuizen (40) Smith (55)
Rotherham United got their second away point of the week this afternoon at Deepdale when they came from one down against Preston North End making the end score one-all.
The hosts started the brighter and when a Callum Robinson pass found Tom Barkhuizen the seven hundred Millers fans held their breath but his shot went straight into the waiting arms of Millers’ ‘keeper Marek Rodak. Just before the quarter of an hour mark the Millers broke down the park and Michael Smith unleashed a curling effort from twenty-five yards out beating Chris Maxwell in the Preston goal but saw it bounce off the bottom of the upright and go out to safety. North End did have the ball in the net courtesy of Robinson but he had already been flagged off-side before an free-kick from Andrew Hughes got by the Millers wall but not past the waiting Rodak. At the other end a delivery into the box saw a header from Kyle Vassell make Maxwell work for his money and make a save. With five minutes of the half remaining a ball into the area from the lively Robinson found Barkhuizen who flicked the ball into the net to give the hosts the lead. Minutes later a poor header back to his goalkeeper from the usual reliable Semi Ajayi was pounced on by Barkhuizen but Rodak saved with his feet before Ajayi cleared making amends for his initial mistake.
The Millers started well in the second half and Kyle Vassell saw a chance cleared by the Preston defence before Richie Towell got another good ball into the Northern Ireland international saw a thunderous shot bring off a good save from Chris Maxwell with the rebound falling to Ryan Williams who put the ball over the crossbar. The Millers pressure brought them reward on fifty-five minutes when a cross from Williams was well controlled by Michael Smith and smashed into the net giving Maxwell no chance. The first substitution of the game saw Sean Maguire replace Lukas Nmecha for the hosts. Callum Robinson and Daniel Johnson had shots which the Rotherham defenders were equal too before the Millers first substitution saw Jon Taylor make way for Joe Newell. Newell’s first contribution was to lob a ball over the heads of some Preston players to find Vassell on for his shot on goal to be bundled away by a Preston defender on the line. After receiving a thrown in ball from Zak Vyner Ryan Williams did well to get away from his marker and sent a lovely ball in for Vassell only to see a Preston player get to it first which was Vassell’s last action of the day as he was replaced by Jamie Proctor while Louis Moult came on for Tom Barkhuizen for the hosts. On seventy-seven minutes Marek Rodak was forced into a save after some lovely work from Robinson to control a Ben Davies cross saw him shoot only to find Rodak in good form to save. At the other end a cross from Will Vaulks found Smith but Maxwell saved easily before Richie Towell saw yellow for a poor challenge on Alan Browne. The Millers final change saw Ryan Manning on for Ryan Williams. Sean Maguire was shown a yellow for a foul on Joe Mattock with the resulting free-kick coming to nothing. As the board went up for four extra minutes Ben Pearson had a chance for the hosts but hit the ball straight a at Rodak.
Another well earned point for the Millers this afternoon with one-one being a fair result.
Crowd – 11,780 (700 Millers fans)
Referee – Jeremy Simpson
