Match Reports

Another Win On The Road For Millers

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Bristol City 0 Rotherham United 2
                              Smith (44)
                             Wood (74)

Rotherham United made four changes to the starting line up from their loss to Watford in mid-week fetching in Viktor Johansson, Ryan Giles, Lewis Wing and Wes Harding this afternoon while the hosts, Bristol City, changed three personnel Daniel Bentley, Liam Walsh and Callum O’Dowda coming in for Max O’Leary, Henri Lansbury and Antoine Semenyo.

The hosts had the better of the opening of a stop-start first half with Nahki Wells winning a soft free-kick on three minutes which Kasey Palmer sent straight into the Millers’ wall with the ball falling to Liam Walsh whose follow-up shot was well wide. Dan Barlaser did well minutes later to block a Jack Hunt shot with Millers’ ‘keeper Viktor Johansson rising to punch away the following corner. Rotherham had a half-chance when Michael Ihiekwe sent a pass into the box for Michael Smith but the Millers’ striker couldn’t the ball from under his feet. City had a chance on eighteen minutes after a short corner which Walsh sent into the box only for Millers’ skipper Richard Wood to get there to clear. Wells went down again to get a free-kick in a good position and taking it himself sent the ball well over the crossbar. Rotherham’s first free-kick came just before the half-hour mark after Giles got the better of former Miller’s loanee Jack Hunt but Barlaser saw his shot go high. After needing treatment a couple of times to what appears to be an existing problem Tomas Kalas was replaced by another former Miller Zak Vyner. Another City free-kick was taken by Callum O’Dowda but Johansson came out and easily collected which was followed by another good save from the the Swede after O’Dowda sent a good ball in. Angus MacDonald was the next to defend well when Famara Diedhiou put O’Dowda in on goal but the Rotherham defender did well. Johansson was quick to smother a ball before Diedhiou could get to it. With a minute to go in the half a long kick from the Millers’ ‘keeper Johansson was flicked on by Smith finding Freddie Ladapo who sent the ball to Harding with the defender sending a superb long ball into the area where Smith got there before Bentley and headed the Millers in front.

Rotherham started the better in the second half with Matt Crooks and Wes Harding combining to find Michael Smith who put the ball into the side netting. Smith then sent in a good ball towards Freddie Ladapo but Daniel Bentley got there first. At the other end the Millers did well to stop a Zak Vyner cross finding Famara Diedhiou. A double change for the hosts saw Antoine Semenya and Henri Lansbury replace Diedhiou and Kasey Palmer. Some nice work from the Robins saw a  Han-Noah Massengo ball find Nahki Wells with Viktor Johansson doing well to get down and put away for a corner which came to nothing. The first Rotherham change came on sixty-five minutes with Matthew Olosunde coming on for Ryan Giles. The Millers might have made it two-nil on the seventy-fourth minute when a Dan Barlaser cross was perfect for Michael Ihiekwe with Bentley doing well to tip over the crossbar. And from the resulting corner the Millers did double their lead with Barlaser again sending a perfect ball in which was headed home by Richard Wood – or maybe a City defender – to make it two-nil to Rotherham. Another chance for the visitors saw  Florian Jozefzoon replace Freddie Ladapo with Sam Bell coming on minutes later for the hosts for Han-Noah Massengo and Sam Pearson for Jack Hunt. City had a couple of chances with Bell and Samenyo having shots blocked before the striker put a shot wide. A foul on Jozefzoon saw Liam Walsh get the first yellow of the game. With three minutes to go the Millers made a triple change fetching on George Hirst, Sean MacDonald and Trevor Clarke for Michael Smith, Dan Barlaser and Lewis Wing. As the four minutes of time added on ticked down Hirst saw yellow. In the last seconds of the game Johansson was called into action to save from Lansbury to ensure he kept a clean sheet.

Rotherham United looked more like their ‘old’ selves this afternoon and although I thought the home side were pedestrian at times I think the Millers deserved the three points today. We kept our shape, defended very well, put the ball in the net and kept a clean sheet. You can’t ask for more than that can you?

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