Norwich City 0 Rotherham United 0
A clean sheet and some dogged defending saw Rotherham United get a point at Carrow Road in this Easter Monday fixture.
The hosts started the better and Millers’ ‘keeper Josh Vickers, in for the injured Viktor Johansson, had to be alert to keep them out. Teemu Pukki had the first shot in the opening minute before a Sam McCallum shot from distance saw Vickers save at full stretch. After some nice work from Onel Hernandez Gabriel Sara saw his shot go wide before the Millers first foray into their opponents half saw an Ollie Rathbone pass to Jordan Hugill blocked by Jacob Sorensen. The first corner of the game went to Norwich on ten minutes but came to nothing before a Sara cross was met by Pukki who was tackled by Cohen Bramall followed a minute later by a Pukki shot that went way over the crossbar. The Millers first real attempt of note came on twenty-five minutes after a super cross from Jamie Lindsay found Tariqe Fosu but his shot went over the bar. A Rotherham free-kick was taken by Conor Coventry but it went straight into the waiting arms of Angus Gunn in the Canaries goal. Wes Harding did well on the half-hour mark to block a shot from McCallum before Coventry, at the other end, tried his luck from distance only to see the ball sail well over and into the Norwich crowd. The first yellow of the game went to Coventry for a foul on Joshua Sargent the resulting Sara free-kick going wide. As the board went up for a further three minutes Chieo Ogbene went on a solo run, pushing past any yellow shirt in his way, and winning the visitor a corner which was taken by Bramall and was just too high for Hugill.
There were no changes for either team at the start of the second half with the first ten minutes or so being a host of free-kicks one the nearest of those to the goal being for the hosts who hit the Rotherham wall and rebounding out to Andrew Omobamidele who saw his shot blocked for a corner. Norwich came close on fifty-five minutes after some good work from Onel Hernandez saw Josh Vickers get down low and although he appeared to get a hand to the ball it took a goal line clearance from Tyler Blackett to stop Norwich opening the scoring. The first change of the afternoon saw Ollie Rathbone make way for Domingos Quina. Just after the hour mark Vickers was brought back into action when he made a great save from Marquinhos which was followed by an equally great stop from Bramall from the follow-up by Sam McCallum. A double change for the hosts saw Adam Idah and Dimitris Giannoulis Dimitris Giannoulis on for Teemu Pukki and Sam McCallum. A Gabriel Sara free-kick was cleared by Jamie Lindsay but only as far as Omobamidele who soon found Quina at his heels forcing him back to his own goalkeeper. A Millers throw-in found Quina who worked his way past his marker only to see his curling shot saved by Gunn. After receiving treatment on the pitch Blackett was replaced by Lee Peltier with Norwich making more changes fetching on Abu Kamara and Christos Tzolis with Onel Hernandez and Marquinhos going the other way. A good ball found Hugill who did well to chest it down before he was brought down by Kamara with Quina taking the resulting free-kick finding Peltier’s head who puts the ball wide. With five minutes of normal time to go Cameron Humphreys held his own to stop the hosts getting a shot away while down the other end some great running from Wes Harding was halted by Giannoulis. A Millers corner found it’s way to Coventry who saw his shot from just outside the box saved by Gunn. Chieo Ogbene did brilliantly to take the ball off Tzolis before he was knocked to the ground by Giannoulis with the resulting Harding free-kick only finding Gunn. At the other end Bramall did well to stop an attack by Idah. As the board went up for a further six minutes Harding had to be on his toes to clear a shot from Giannoulis off the line with Vickers hanging onto the rebound from Sorensen. Shane Ferguson came off the bench for the Millers with Jordan Hugill making way for him. Quina was making life a little difficult for the City players and to stop him progressing into their half Max Aarons tripped the Portuguese midfielder up. The cross from Bramall found Lindsay in the middle of the box but the Scot headed straight at Gunn.
A very good away point for Rotherham today against a team who are only a point or two off a play-off position. And it’s another clean sheet with the team defending well and Josh Vickers making some good saves to prove he’s a good substitute for the missing Viktor Johansson.
Attendance – 26,269
Referee – Jeremy Simpson
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