Millers drop points at Whaddon Road

Rotherham United got their second consecutive draw under caretaker Manager, Steve Thornber, this afternoon at Cheltenham, but it really should have been all three points.

The Millers could have been two goals up in the first few minutes when Tom Pope saw his twenty-five yard shot just go over the crossbar with Robins’ ‘keeper back pedalling, then minutes later Nicky Law crossed for Dale Tonge but the defender saw his shot go just wide amid appeals from the Millers for handball. With Pope and Adam Le Fondre tying the home defence in knots, Ian Sharps got the ball to Pope but he pulled his shot wide of the upright. Then the visitors got a free-kick which Law hit high only for Le Fondre to smash it over and a minute later Pope took a second too long and a defender got the ball out to safety. Not to be outdone, Kevin Ellison got in on the act but Brown got down to smother the ball before Ellison headed a Law corner wide. On the forty-fifth minute, Pope again went close when he sent a curling ball in that just went wide. It was two minutes into stoppage time that the Millers broke the deadlock, although, after all the visitors` dominance, it was human error rather than skill that counted. Pope threw in a low, long ball that Brown dropped and Le Fondre was there to pounce and send the ball into the top of the net sending the visiting three hundred or so Rotherham fans wild.

Cheltenham came out for the second half, with what looked like a rollicking from Martin Allen, and within a couple of minutes Andy Gallinagh had a shot blocked and Josh Low crossed to Michael Townsend whose shot went over the crossbar. On the fifty-fifth minute, Andy Warrington had his first save to make when Elvis Hammond, on for Justin Richards, hit a low shot but Warrington saved it easily. Rotherham’s first chance of the second half came with twenty minutes to go when a Jamie Green free-kick found Sharps’ head which Brown did well to save . Ellison then had a shot blocked by Townsend and Brown made the save of the day from the hard working Pablo Mills. But the closest the Millers came to doubling their lead was when Danny Harrison let fly from twenty yards out and thumped the outside of the left upright. But, Law should have finished the game off on the eighty-fourth minute, when Ellison put him clear and with only the ‘keeper to beat he side footed the ball wide. And the Millers were made to pay for those missed chances in the final five minutes when Theo Lewis whipped in a ball from the right and Julian Alsop rose above everyone else and put the ball over a static Warrington to give the home side a point.

I came away from Whaddon Road today feeling like we’d lost! We should have easily had all three points today and, I know I keep saying this, but we really have to start taking our chances.