First Half Goals See Off Parkgate

Parkgate 0 Rotherham United 2
                         Bramall (26)
                         Kelly (35)

Rotherham United got a first pre-season win under their belt this evening at Roundwood when two first-half goals was enough to beat Parkgate on their home turf.

The visitors came close to a first minute goal after a long Viktor Johansson pass found Georgie Kelly who set up Ben Hatton, the U18 forward player hitting the ball first time but only into the side netting. Minutes later Curtis Durose saw Kelly in space but he saw his shot was put away to safety by Brad Morton. Parkgate’s first foray on goal nearly brought a goal when a shot from distance from Ross Dugan was only inches away this was followed by a shot from Ahmed Tahar who brought off a low save from Johansson. And it was Tahar moments later who was on the line to clear when a shot came in from Kelly. Both Hatton and Durose had further chances before a shot from inside the box from Ben Wiles went past the upright. The deadlock was broken on twenty-six minutes when Cohen Bramall was first to a loose ball and his shot from inside the box found the bottom corner. Morton was on the line to stop a shot from Peter Kioso going in before Josh Nodder put the ball over Johansson at the other end but was flagged offside. A minute later the Millers were two up after a low cross from Kioso found Kelly who tapped the ball in from close range. And it might have been three had a Bramall free-kick not gone inches over the crossbar. As half-time closed in Hatton let a shot fly with Parkgate ‘keeper Jordan Greaves doing well to push away leaving the Millers two-up going in at half-time.

A complete change for Rotherham for the second half and it took them a while to get out of midfield with the first shot real action coming just after the hour mark when a lovely ball from Jamie McCart for Joel Holvey earned the Millers a corner which Holvey took and McCart put over. Holvey then sent Abraham on his way who got past the ‘keeper who recovered enough to put the ball behind and he also punched the resulting corner away before he managed to claim another set-piece. After a break for fluids the Millers got another corner which Holvey took finding the head of McCart but he put the ball wide. Minutes later Holvey sent another corner in this time for Ayres who headed back into the melee in the box only to see it cleared by the Steelmen. It was Ayres again as the game was coming to an end that caused problems when he slid past his marker and sent the ball towards goal only for a Parkgate defender to clear.

A workout for most of the squad this evening can only be for the good before they travel to Spain to their overseas camp.

Parkgate
Greaves
Hart
Smith
Tahar (Austin)
Morton
Tomlinson (Monteiro)
Whitfield (McQuillan)
Patterson
Duggan (Thompson)
Valladolid-Collins
Nodder (Haslam)

Millers
Johansson (Phillips)
Kioso (Seisay)
Peltier (Humphreys)
Morrison (Hall)
Blackett (McCart)
Bramall (Holvey)
Wiles (Douglas)
Lindsay (Odoffin)
Durose (Abraham)
Ben Hatton (Ayres)
Kelly (McGuckin)

Thanks to my ‘roving reporter’ at the game for the updates