How Did The Millers Go In October?

Rotherham United started October with caretaker pair Richard Wood and Lee Peltier in charge and in eighth place with fourteen points.

The first game of the month was at home to Wigan with Peltier in the dugout and Wood on the pitch. Both sides created chances in the first half with the visitors making the chances pay on just twelve minutes when Will Keane scored. The second half was a bit flat but it was Wigan again who scored when Tom Naylor headed home to give the visitors a two-nil win.

After the game Woody said it had been a disappointing result with ‘too many players not performing’ on the day.

Four days into the month Rotherham United announced Matt Taylor as the new manager with Taylor saying he was ‘absolutely delighted’ to be the new Boss saying, ‘it’s an absolutely fantastic place to come and work.’

And he got his first point as the Millers Boss the following day when Millwall were in town. A nine minute penalty from Dan Barlaser gave the hosts the lead but Zian Flemming got the equaliser three minutes before half-time.

The matches were going to come fast and thick for Matt Taylor with the next game being away at Blackburn Rovers. It was a game where the Millers started well and were probably on top until twenty minutes in when a silly, probably needless, foul by Grant Hall saw him yellow carded and the hosts get a penalty which Ben Brereton Diaz duly put away – it was Rovers first chance on goal. The Chile international added another in the second half before limping off with  Sammie Szmodics making it three-nil with fifteen minutes to go. Ollie Rathbone brought off a brilliant save from Blackburn’s ‘keeper while Tom Eaves saw a shot hit the post and go to safety.

The new Manager had a week before the next game and Matt Taylor said he was getting to know the group of players he’d inherited. The Central League Cup gave him an opportunity to look at some of the players he’d not seen in action with Jamie Lindsay, Georgie Kelly, Hakeem Odoffin, Peter Kioso, Shane Ferguson and Cameron Humphreys all playing in the game. Unfortunately Lindsay only managed twenty minutes before he got a nasty kick to the face and he had to be replaced. Kioso managed the first forty-five minutes in the two-one win.

Matt Taylor got his first win as Millers Boss when Huddersfield Town were the visitors at the New York Stadium. Conor Washington put the hosts in front on twenty-five minutes but former Millers favourite Danny Ward equalised for Town four minutes later. Georgie Kelly came off the bench on fifty-eight minutes and three minutes later got the winner for the Millers. After the game Taylor said it was the ‘most consistent performance’ he’d seen since taking over at Rotherham. Jamie Lindsay didn’t make the game because of his face injury while Chieo Ogbene was out with a hamstring problem.

The next game was a Tuesday night one at the Bet365 Stadium with the Millers starting the better and on six minutes a Shane Ferguson corner was partially cleared as far as Ollie Rathbone who shot low seeing the ball go past a sea of legs and into the back of the net to give the visitors the lead. From then it was much backs to the wall for Rotherham and that and some good goalkeeping from Viktor Johansson kept Stoke City out, the Millers giving Matt Taylor his first away win.


Wins in the previous two games had the Millers on a high but they soon came back down to earth when Managerless Hull City were the visitors at the New York Stadium. Jacob Greaves bundled the ball over the line to give City the lead on forty-four minutes but Dan Barlaser equalised in stoppage time. The Tigers went back in front seven minutes into the second half and made it three-one two minutes later. On eighty-five minutes it was four-one with Georgie Kelly getting his third of the season to half the deficit in the final minute of the game. Matt Taylor said that the Millers were a ‘yard short all over the pitch’ and ‘Hull were impressive.’

Jonathan Hill joined the Millers as Taylor’s first team assistant and was just in time to take his place in the dugout for our visit to the Coventry Building Society Arena to take on former Miller Mark Robins’ City side in the re-arranged game from the start of the season. Viktor Johansson had to be on his game in the first half with Rotherham taking the lead, much against run of play, on a counter—attack just before half-time when Cohen Bramall got on the end of a great pass from Dan Barlaser and put the ball into the net. The Millers defence held tight until the seventy-sixth minute when Gustavo Hamer Gustavo Hamer equalised. But just minutes later Conor Washington regained the lead for the visitors but when Richard Wood bundled over Callum O’Hare in time added on  Viktor Gyokeres converted the resulting penalty to make it two-all. Matt Taylor said his players were ‘excellent’ after the game but wasn’t impressed with the referee – Click Here to read more.

The last game in October saw the Millers in the Welsh capital taking on Cardiff City. It was a poor game for Rotherham with the stats telling us that we failed to register one shot on goal. Saying that, it took City until the sixty-fifth minute to score when a blocked ball fell to Jaden Philogene who got the better of three defenders and put the ball in the net. ‘We weren’t aggressive enough,’ Millers Manager Matt Taylor said.

Vital Rotherham’s Man of the Month was Viktor Johansson.

Rotherham ended October with twenty-two points and in thirteenth position in the Championship.