Blackburn Rovers 2 Rotherham United 2
Sigurdsson (8) Morrison (31)
Szmodics (46) Eaves (82)
Rotherham United came from behind twice at Ewood Park this afternoon to get a point to take back to South Yorkshire.
The Millers started brightly and had a chance on four minutes after Cohen Bramall was first to a long ball from Millers’ ‘keeper Viktor Johansson and after shrugging off his marker sent the ball into the area for Sam Nombe whose tight-angled shot ended on the roof of the net. Ollie Rathbone, back in the starting eleven after illness, won a free-kick that came to nothing before an Adam Wharton cross at the other end found Sammie Szmodics whose shot was blocked by the Millers defence. But a minute later Rovers were in front after Wharton put the ball into the box for Szmodics who saw his shot blocked by Hakeem Odoffin only for it to fall for Arnor Sigurdsson who got the better of Dexter Lembikisa and put the ball into the net. A couple of minutes later Sondre Tronstad picked up a short corner and let fly from the edge of the box only to see Johansson climb and tip the ball over the crossbar. Rovers thought they’d gone two-up on seventeen minutes when Szmodics had the ball in the net but the linesman had had his flag up for offside for some time. The Millers won a couple of corners a shot from Christ Tiehi winning the second with Tom Eaves seeing his header saved by home ‘keeper Leopold Wahlstedt. Tiehi and Eaves worked well together the latter finding himself in enough space to head the ball but it went wide before Johansson had to be aware to get down to a shot from Callum Brittain. Some good build-up in midfield for the visitors saw Sam Clucas shoot from distance and winning a corner which he took crossing into the box where Sean Morrison rose above everyone else to head in the equaliser for the Millers. Blackburn came close to going back in front a minute later with Johansson doing well to get to a shot from Szmodics before Lembikisa hacked the ball away to safety. James Hill and Szmodics had shots blocked before a foul on Semir Telalovic brought a yellow card for Morrison. As the two minutes added on time came to an end a counter-attack by Rotherham from Nombe saw him find Rathbone who shot from some twenty yards out seeing either or both the upright and the diving Wahistedt deny him a goal.
The second half was only a minute old when Blackburn re-took the lead. James Hill came out from the back, getting the better of Sam Clucas, before playing a one-two with Semir Telalovic before sending the ball to Sammie Szmodics who rounded Viktor Johansson and put the ball in the net from close range. Blackburn were on the ascendency without really getting far with a shot from Telalovic easy for Johansson. Sam Nombe and Tom Eaves won free-kicks the latter one seeing Clucas sending the ball for Sean Morrison to head over before a Nombe cross to Tom Eaves saw the striker shoot wide. Rovers made a double substitution with Andrew Moran and Semir Telalovic making way for Dilan Markanday and Niall Ennis with the Millers doing the same four minutes later fetching on Jordan Hugill and Jamie Lindsay for Sam Nombe and Sam Clucas. The home subs nearly made an impact with Markanday’s cross found Ennis in the box but his shot was well saved by Johansson before the Millers’ ‘keeper got down well to save a shot from Szmodics. Two more changes for the visitors on the seventy-eighth minute saw Arvin Appiah and Cafu come on for Dexter Lembikisa and Ollie Rathbone. Johansson again had to be on his toes to stop a shot from Anor Sigurdsson going into the top left-hand corner but straight from this the Millers flew down the other end with Seb Revan who sent in a lovely cross from Eaves whose header down got the better of Wahistedt and went into the net for a second equaliser. The Millers were trying to get their first away win of the season and a Cafu corner was aimed at Eaves but his header went just wide before the hosts had a chance with Szmodics seeing a shot put behind by Cohen Bramall, the corner coming to nothing. As the board went up for an extra four minutes Georgie Kelly was brought on for Tom Eaves although his first action was to give away a free-kick with a handball but the set-piece found Hill offside. At the other end a Morrison long throw was flicked-on by Kelly to Lindsay who saw his shot blocked going for a corner which couldn’t be taken as the full-time whistle went.
A nice start to the New Year a point away from home and some nice football played as well. It’s also good to see that we didn’t stop playing when we went behind and kept going to get equalisers.
Attendance – 13,054 with 550 Millers fans
Referee – Jarred Gillett
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