Millers Beaten At Home By Gills

Rotherham United’s home form took a bit of a dip at the weekend when lowly Gillingham beat them three-one at the New York Stadium.

The game was must two minutes old when a defensive error gave the Gills a corner which Billy Bingham took and every red shirt plus ‘keeper missed the ball falling to Josh Parker who bundled it over the line. Under pressure from Kieffer Moore Tomas Holy did well to get his hands to stop the Millers’ top scorer equalising before a Joe Newell free-kick was whipped in finding Richard Wood who was flagged for off-side. At the other end Michael Ihiekwe had to be on his toes to stop former Millers’ loanee Tom Eaves getting in on goal. The hosts came close to an equaliser on the quarter of an hour mark when Newell tried his luck from twenty-five yards which Holy managed to grab at the second attempt before the shot stopper got down well minutes later to a shot from Ryan Williams. The Millers were looking more settled and Richie Towell, Shaun Cummings and Wood came close before Moore looked to have got a header on target but saw it go inches over the crossbar.

The second half started with the visitors bringing on Connor Ogilvie for Bradley Garmstone. Two minutes into the half Gillingham doubled their lead after a cross from Jake Hessenthaler found Tom Eaves head and he put the ball in from close range. Anthony Forde and Richie Towell were replaced by John Taylor and David Ball. Michael Ihiekwe again comes to the aid of the Millers after Eaves had got the better of Richard Wood but the defender got the ball away from danger. On the fifty-seventh minute the Millers pulled one back when a lovely ball from Darren Potter went just beyond Moore but he got on the end of it and smashed a volley into the back of the net to make it two-one. Elliott List went off for the Gills replaced by Scott Wagstaff. Substitute Jon Taylor came close to equalising fizzing a shot in from twenty-five yards out only for Tomas Holy to make a cracking save before Moore tried to get a cross in to Ball only for a visiting defender to get there first. Gabriel Zakuani went down injured and had to be replaced by Luke O’Neill for the Gills. The Millers were trying to get an equaliser with Moore having a couple of shots and thought they should have had a penalty in the final ten minutes when a ball in from Newell was heading for Wood who appeared to be bundled over in the area but referee Carl Boyeson waved away the protests. Wood saw yellow for a pull on Hessenthaler’s shirt followed by a booking for Joe Mattock who ran into Wagstaff. In the melee that followed Mattock insisted on trying to prove his innocence and was shown another yellow with the Millers having to play with ten men for the final five minutes. After Shaun Cummings did well to get his foot to a cross from Wagstaff the Gills made it three-one from the resulting corner on eighty-six minutes with Josh Parker getting his second of the afternoon. In time added on Connor Ogilvie was shown a yellow card for a poor challenge on Ball.

Disappointing afternoon for the Millers fans with some poor defending aiding the Gills to a couple of goals.