Home Loss For Millers

Rotherham United 0 Millwall 1
                                             Wallace 50

Rotherham United lost their first home game of the season this afternoon thanks to a goal from Millwall’s Jed Wallace five minutes into the second half.

The Millers had the better of the first half and the first chance of the game on seven minutes saw a cross from Kieran Sadlier just miss the outstretched leg of Chieo Ogbene. Minutes later a Joe Mattock cross saw Millwall ‘keeper Bartosz Bialkowski claim with Jamie Lindsay waiting at the back post. An Inswinging corner on the quarter of an hour mark from Sadlier caused problems in the box but the Millers players were a bit hesitant to react and Jake Cooper cleared. The hosts might have gone into the lead on twenty minutes after Wes Harding and Ogbene had combined to find Freddie Ladapo in front of goal but the Rotherham striker shot past the upright. A challenge on Mason Bennett brought the first booking of the game for Michael Ihiekwe with the resulting free-kick flying over the crossbar. Ogbene won a corner which Sadlier took short to Sean MacDonald who gave it back to the Millers midfielder only for his shot to be deflected behind for another corner from which Michael Smith won a third corner which was taken short by Joe Mattock and eventually fell to Sadlier who brought off a save from Bialkowski. At the other end Jed Wallace was stopped in his tracks by Angus MacDonald who put the ball out for a corner which was well defended by Harding. Lindsay gave away a silly free-kick around the corner area which flew into the box with Mattock putting off his marker enough for Jamal Blackman in the Rotherham goal to save. With the half coming to an end Harding got the ball up to Smith who headed on for Ladapo who put the ball behind. In time added on Ogbene was upended with Mattock taking the resulting free-kick but his shot went straight into the waiting wall and out to safety as referee Leigh Doughty blew for half-time.

Millwall started the second half with a corner which came to nothing. Chieo Ogbene won the Millers a throw after a good run down the wing but nothing came from it unless you count Joe Mattock defending well down the other end. Five minutes in a poor kick from Jamal Blackman was met by an equally poor mis-kick from Michael Ihiekwe which saw Jed Wallace pounce upon and rounding Blackman he fired into an open net with no red shirted defender anywhere near him. Ten minutes later Wallace should have made it two after he found himself in acres of space but couldn’t get the ball on target. The second yellow of the afternoon went to Millwall’s Scott Malone who brought down Wes Harding which Sean MacDonald took finding Freddie Ladapo who saw his shot cleared. Rotherham made two changes fetching on George Hirst for his debut and Ben Wiles for Ladapo and Kieran Sadlier. The visitors next chance came from  Mahlon Romeo but he put his shot from a tight angle high and wide. Ihiekwe got the ball to Ogbene whose shot was blocked followed by a Mattock chance from just outside the box which went wide. A couple of Rotherham corners came to nothing before Hirst had a shot blocked. Millwall brought on Shaun Williams for Romeo and Murray Wallace for Scott Malone with the first thing Wallace did was to get booked for a foul on Ogbene. The Millers last sub of the afternoon saw Jamie Lindsay make way for Matt Crooks. Shaun Hutchinson set Wallace up for a shot which went wide before the referee went a bit whistle happy giving fouls when there were no fouls to be given. Matt Smith was the last sub for the visitors who replaced Mason Bennett. In the final minute of the game Wiles won a free-kick which he took himself but was defended well by the visiting defence. In time added on a Harding throw found Wiles but again Millwall got the better of him before a last ditch free-kick from Wiles was punched away by Bartosz Bialkowski for a corner which saw Blackman come up for but the set-piece only found a player in a green and white shirt.

A lot of possession in the first half for the Millers and chances which (again) couldn’t be taken. It’s just the second game in and we’ve got three points and I thought we did alright for the first forty-five minutes. The goal seemed like it gave us a bit of panic and Millwall worked on that for a while but, as I said, we had chances – we’ve just got to learn how to score from them.

Teams

Rotherham
Blackman
Harding
Mattock
Ihiekwe
A MacDonald
S MacDonald
Ogbene
Lindsay (Crooks 76)
Sadlier (Wiles 66)
Smith
Ladapo (Hirst 66)
Subs not used – Johansson, Wood, Miller, Vassell

Millwall
Bialkowski
Cooper
Pearce
Hutchinson
Romeo (Williams 74)
Malone (Wallace 74)
Leonard
Woods
Bradshaw
Wallace
Bennett (Smith 82)
Subs not used – Wright, Ferguson, Mahoney, Bodvarsson