Match Reports

Four Goals, Two Red Cards And All Three Points For The Millers

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Rotherham United 4 Peterborough United 0
Wood (50)
Butler (og) (68)
Ward (og) (77)
Vassell (90+2)

Rotherham United got their second win of the Christmas season this afternoon beating Peterborough United at the New York Stadium and moving up into the top three in League One.

The Millers were always the better side in this afternoons encounter with their first chance coming on seven minutes when a superb pass from Clark Robertson found Chiedozie Ogbene turned and sent the ball back to Adam Thompson whose ball into the box found the head of Carlton Morris whose effort went just over the crossbar. An appeal for a handball in the area fell on deaf ears with referee Andy Haines awarding a corner to the hosts which was easily dealt with by the Peterborough defence. The game was around twenty-five minutes old when the visitors had a chance with Harrison Burrows trying his luck from distance which didn’t worry Daniel Iversen in the Millers’ goal. At the other end Matthew Olosunde had a similar chance which Posh ‘keeper Christy Pym did well to hold onto. Just before the half-hour mark Rotherham were forced into a change when Robertson limped off and was replaced by Richard Wood, who got a good reception from the home fans. Ogbene had been causing problems down the right all the half and Morris was unlucky when the ball in from the winger was claimed by Pym. Some brilliant defending from Michael Ihiekwe stopped Ivan Toney in his tracks before the Millers had another shout for a penalty after Olosunde was pushed to the ground by Alex Woddyard but again Mr Haines said ‘no’. Another Dan Barlaser corner saw Thompson climb highest only for his header to go inches over followed by a chance for Peterborough which saw Toney shoot straight into the waiting arms of Iversen when the striker probably should have done better.

Peterborough started the second half with Joe Ward on for Harrison Burrows and a yellow card for Frankie Kent who brought Matthew Olosunde down on the edge of the area. Dan Barlaser curled the resulting free-kick into the area with a great diving save from Christy Pym stopping it going into the net. But minutes later the pressure from the hosts paid off after Carlton Morris sent a really good ball into the box and there was Richard Wood to nod home sending three sides of the ground into a rendition of ‘Richard Wood is magic’. Things got worse for Darren Ferguson and his team four minutes later with Olosunde dashing down the wing he was chopped down by Frankie Kent who received a second yellow and his marching orders. The visitors made their second substitution of the afternoon fetching on Rhys Bennett for Louis Reed. More good work between Thompson and Ogbene ended in a corner but that came to nothing before Ogbene and Matt Crooks worked the ball well between them the latter race through on goal with his shot taking a deflection off Dan Butler and going into the net. The Millers brought on Kyle Vassell for Freddie Ladapo which was followed by Crooks having another powerful shot at goal which went just past the upright. But things didn’t go all ways for the Millers when Ivan Toney went down under a tackle from Joe Mattock ending in both squaring up to one another and the Millers player putting his head towards the Posh forward with what the referee thought was menace and he got a straight red meaning both sides were down to ten men. Christy Pym did well minutes later to get to a ball before Ogbene followed by Michael Smith taking the pitch and Carlton Morris going off. Within a minute of that change there was a bit of a goalmouth scramble after a Barlaser free-kick went into the area eventually finding Wood who saw the ball hit Joe Ward before going into the net to make it three-nil to the hosts. Ivan Toney, who had been booked a couple of minutes earlier, was substituted with eight minutes to go being replaced by Mo Eisa. Ogbene did well again down the wing putting the ball across the face of goal with Smith a toe-poke away from making it four followed by Smith doing the running and finding Vassell who smashed the ball towards goal only to see it come back off the post and out of danger. The board went up for five added minutes and on the third of those five the Millers sealed the victory after a goalmouth melee ended with Vassell getting the ball with his back to goal and acrobatically putting it into the net to make it four-nil.

What a great victory for Rotherham United for their last game of the decade. Every player deserves top marks for their contribution – it’s going to be difficult to pick out a man-of-the-match for this one!

Well Done Millers – see you next year!

Crowd – 9,019 (874 Posh fans)
Referee – Andy Haines

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2 comments

  • carlton in lindrick says:

    the critics seem to have gone quiet caz great result again posh. good holiday period so far keep it up millers

    • Caz Neale (Herringthorpe) says:

      To be fair they’ve been a bit quiet for a while and, if I’m honest, I don’t think we’d played that well until the last couple of games although we were getting results. Yes, fingers crossed, looking for black cats and not stepping on any cracks in the pavement, our holiday period is going well.

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