Millers head for re-play

A penalty late in time added on took the FA Cup tie between Rotherham and Aldershot to a replay after the Millers went ahead with a Micky Cummins goal on fifty-four minutes.

Although the visitors looked the more lively in the opening minutes, it was Aldershot who had the first shot at goal when Andy Warrington had to make a great save from John Grant. Louis Soares then had a shot from inside the box but missed and Warrington got down well to his right to stop the ball going in from Kirk Hudson. Minutes later a Dale Tonge cross found Drewe Broughton’s head but he put the ball just over the bar. At the other end there was a scramble in the area and Anthony Charles smashed the ball against Warrington’s crossbar. Cummins should have done better with a header just before half-time but Nikki Bull easily saved it.

The Millers came out battling at the start of the second half and Omar Garcia had a good shot blocked before Pablo Mills found Alex Rhodes free on the right but the midfielder only managed to hit it wide from six yards out. But then came the goal. A Rhodes corner found Cummins on the edge of the area and he let fly from eighteen yards out into the back of the net. The goal seemed to wake Aldershot up and they surged forward only to find Andy Warrington in good form in the Millers goal, and he made one particularly good save from Scott Davies when the ball looked to be sneaking low into the net. The Millers looked to have it won when the board went up for four minutes of time added on – four minutes from where, no one seemed to know – and on the third minute of these four, substitute, Marvin Morgan, ended up on the floor of the penalty area and the referee deemed that a Millers defender had fouled him and pointed to the spot. Grant took the penalty and, although Warrington got two hands to it, it went into the back of the net to send the tie into a replay at Don Valley.

As a Miller I thought we’d finally got through to the second round of the FA Cup and was disappointed in the penalty decision.