Baggies Boing Millers

West Bromwich Albion 2 Rotherham United 0
Thomas Asante (23)
Swift (45+1 pen)

Today’s game was really about could Rotherham United get their first away win of the season. But when they were two-nil down at half-time, although the second of those was rather controversial,  it was looking doubtful.

West Brom nearly got off to a great start on two minutes when they got in front of the Millers defence with Tom Fellows sending a good ball through for former Millers loanee John Swift in the middle of the box who saw his shot clear the crossbar. Viktor Johansson, in the Millers goal, was quickly out of his area minutes later to stop Brandon Thomas-Asante get on the end of a long ball but the offside flag was up anyway. A Darnell Furlong cross meant for Thomas-Asante went skidding past him before ten minutes on the clock saw Rotherham’s first chance when Seb Revan got the better of Adam Reach before he sent the ball into the box towards Sam Nombe but the ball was cleared. A minute later another chance went to the visitors after Nombe harried Cedric Kipre into a quick ball out with the Sam Clucas getting on the end of it and sending it across goal with no black shirted player able to get on the end of it. At the other end Michael Johnston went to the ground between two Millers defenders falling into the box but referee Mr Eltringham told him to get up and played on. Just after the quarter of an hour mark Bramall and Cafu played a one-two with the latter finding Clucas who sent the ball into the box winning a corner which Cafu took and making Baggies ‘keeper Alex Palmer punch the ball out for another corner. Clucas took that with it eventually finding Hakeem Odoffin who sent it back into the box going between players before it eventually went out for another corner which Cafu sent in with Kipre clearing. On twenty-three minutes the hosts took the lead. A long ball from Michael Johnstone found Reach who saw Johansson coming to cut his angle off but the midfielder saw Thomas-Asante on his own who put the ball over the line from close range. From the kick-off the Millers could have equalised when a long ball found Odoffin who crossed for Nombe in the box but Kyle Bartley jumped with him and the Rotherham man headed wide. Johnstone won a corner off Revan which Nombe cleared when it came in but the ball fell to Fellows just outside the area whose shot was punched away by Johansson but only as far as Fellows who had another shot which went into the waiting arms of the Millers’ ‘keeper. Minutes later Kipre found Fellows and only some good work from Lee Peltier stopped the attacking midfielder getting a shot away. In the final five minutes of the half Odoffin won the ball sending it into the box for Nombe whose header was taken by Cafu but his shot was high and wide. A cross from Fellows at the other end was blocked by Clucas but went to Yann M’Vila who was urged to shoot by the Baggies fans and obliged but his shot flew into the stands behind the goal. In the final minute of the half Mr Eltringham gave a controversial penalty for West Brom. The ball came out to Thomas-Asante who was well in the ‘D’ outside the area his shot hitting the hand of Peltier, also arguably in the ‘D’ with the resulting spot-kick taken and scored by Swift. As the half ended the Millers Assistant Head Coach, Rob Kelly, was booked for dissent.

The Millers started the second half well with Seb Revan receiving a header down from Andy Rinomhota just outside the box and having a shot that went wide before Ollie Rathbone found a shooting opportunity in the box only to see the deflected behind. Sam Clucas was the next to have a go volleying from the edge of the box wide while Rinomhota and Revan combined again the latter seeing his shot saved by Alex Palmer. At the other end Brandon Thomas-Asante tried to clip the ball over iktor Johansson but the Millers ‘keeper stood his ground to bring off a great save. The Baggies made a triple change on the sixty-fourth minute with Grady Diangana, . Nathaniel Chalobah and former Miller Semi Ajayi replacing Michael Johnstone, Okay Yokuslu and Cedrick Kipre. Darnell Furlong got the better of Cafu to stop him getting a shot away but saw the ball fall to Clucas who tried his luck from distance the ball going wide. Referee Eltringham gave a hand-ball decision against Rathbone and as it was just ten feet away from the goal area I suppose we are lucky he didn’t give another penalty. While Johansson received some treatment a fourth change for the hosts saw Tom Fellows make way for Matt Phillips with Phillips winning a corner of Cameron Humphreys which came to nothing. Cafu set off an attack trying to find Sam Nombe with a cross but the Millers forward was taken out by Chalobah with the resulting free-kick coming to nothing. A chance for Albion saw Phillips send a lovely ball for Thomas-Asante to hit from close range but he somehow put it wide. A triple change for the Millers with ten minutes to go saw Cohen Bramall, Sam Clucas and Lee Peltier replaced by Femi Seriki, Arvin Appiah and Shane Ferguson. Thomas-Asante had another chance when he found himself in plenty of room but again missed. A change for each side saw Tom Eaves replace Sam Nombe for the visitors and Brandon Thomas-Asante make way for Josh Maja for the Baggies. Rinomhota was the first player to get a yellow after he stopped Ajayi from moving forward which was his last contribution to the game as he was subbed with Ben Hatton coming on for his debut for Rotherham and in the little time he had on the pitch the lad showed us that he can make a bit of a nuisance of himself.

In spurts I thought we played OK today, had shots on goal, got forward more – still didn’t score but, hey, we tried.

And the Millers still await their first away win of the season – only two to go now lads to get that.

Attendance – 22,331 with 179 Millers in the crowd

Referee – Geoff Eltringham