Another Home Loss for Rotherham

Rotherham United 0 Reading 1
                                             Morrison 26

Rotherham United lost their fourth game on the bounce with a one-nil score line this afternoon when Reading got all three points at the New York Stadium.

The Millers had an early free-kick which Ryan Giles ran over and Lewis Wing took finding the head of Michael Smith but the Millers striker couldn’t keep the ball down. At the other end some nice work between Ovie Ejaria and Michael Olise saw the visitors win a corner which found Omar Richards just outside the box who let fly bringing off a good save from Millers’ ‘keeper Viktor Johansson who tipped over. Giles clipped the ball into the Reading box finding Angus MacDonald who sent the ball into the path of Clark Robertson who fired over under pressure from a Reading defender. A few minutes later a challenge on Robertson saw him fall to the ground and after treatment had to be replaced by Ben Wiles coming off an already depleted looking bench. A super challenge from Shaun MacDonald stopped a cross finding Andy Rinomhota in a good position before Angus MacDonald had to be alert to stop an Ejaria cross finding Lucas Joao in an equally good position. On the twenty-fifth minute Angus MacDonald cleared a ball in the area which came back off him and he was thankful to see it go just past the post. But two minutes later the Millers weren’t so lucky after a set-piece wasn’t dealt with Richards sending a cross to the back post which found Morrison who prodded it over the line to give the Royals the lead. It might have been two a couple of minutes later when Joao got the ball from Moore but put the ball wide under pressure from Wiles. Freddie Ladapo won a corner for the hosts which Giles found Crooks with but Reading easily clear the captain for the day’s header. At the other end Johansson had to race off his line to get to the ball before Rinomhota before Olosunde received a good ball from Giles in the box only to see his strike deflected. Minutes later a long Olosunde pass was knocked down by Angus MacDonald for Ladapo who put his shot over. Reading had another chance when an Ejaria ball found Joao who had space to turn only to see his shot clear the crossbar. In the final minute of the half a great cross into the box from Giles but Rafael was there to claim. In time added on it could easily have been a second goal for the visitors when a free-kick by passed two or three Reading players with Ejaria pushing it towards Alfa Semedo who despite being in acres of space couldn’t quite get to it leaving it at one-nil to the Royals going in at half-time.

Rotherham started well in the second half and a fantastic strike from Michael Smith found the back of the net but the tall striker had moved into an offside position. Viktor Johansson collected from an attempted lob by Lucas Joao before some ping-pong in the box was eventually cleared by the Millers for a Reading corner which Lewis Wing was grateful to clear off the line. A Wing cross found Smith in the box but again his header went over before Matt Crooks did the same for Freddie Ladapo who also saw his header rise above the crossbar. Some nice work from Crooks saw him find Ladapo who put the ball into the box for Giles but the Wolves loanee whose shot was deflected away from goal then cleared. A late challenge on Andy Rinomhota saw Angus MacDonald receive the first yellow of the game which was followed by a double change for the hosts seeing Trevor Clarke and Kieran Sadlier on for Ryan Giles and Shaun MacDonald. Wing tried to play Ladapo in with the ball coming back out to him with the Middlesbrough loanee sending his shot high. The Millers put pressure on their visitors with a number of corners that ended when Michael Morrison got the better of Ladapo and cleared down field. Reading replaced Ovie Ejaria with Tom McIntyre whose first touch brought a corner for the Millers which fell to Ladapo who saw his shot blocked. Another double change for Rotherham with ten minutes to go saw George Hirst on for Lewis Wing and Ladapo replaced by Florian Jozefzoon. McIntyre headed the ball on for Michael Olise whose shot from outside the box went inches wide. A shove on Olise by Ben Wiles bought the Rotherham player a booking before the Frenchman had a shot at goal which Johansson was equal to. As the board went up for a further five minutes a shot from outside the box from Clarke saw Reading ‘keeper Rafael make his first save of the half. A foul on McIntyre saw Matthew Olosunde the third home player to get a yellow. Smith got a good ball from Sadlier and in turn sent the ball for Hirst who saw his shot blocked. The last change of the afternoon saw  Thomas Holmes replace Michael Olise for the visitors. Another cross from Sadlier found Clarke who again saw a shot blocked before a shot come cross from Wiles took a wicked deflection and looked like it was going to sneak in the far post but went just wide.

Well you can’t say we didn’t have chances – but you can say after six months we still don’t know how to take them. Crosses in easily blocked, corners not even getting into the box, can we actually hold on to a ball long enough for one of our players to get himself into a good position (that would be a ‘no’). I’m not sure any of us really thought we’d get a win today although we all hoped and it was pretty scrappy.

Can I really say ‘onwards and upwards’ again in a positive manner?