Rotherham United 1-0 Millwall
Raggett (20)
Rotherham United did their season no harm with a home win against Millwall this afternoon where defender Sean Raggett headed the only goal of the game.
Paul Warne made a couple of changes for this early kick-off game from Tuesday fetching in Raggett and Kyle Vassell for Matty Palmer and Jon Taylor. And it was Raggett with probably the first shot towards goal who scored on twenty minutes. A short throw from Will Vaulks to the busy Ryan Williams who put it back into the path of Vaulks caught the Millwall defenders napping and when Vaulks put the ball into the box Raggett jumped above everyone else and put the ball into the corner of the net for his first goal in a Millers shirt. The first yellow of the afternoon went to Jed Wallace for a cynical foul on Williams before some good work for the visitors from Lee Gregory saw Millers’ ‘keeper Marek Rodak make a good save. Just after the half hour mark some nice football from Joe Mattock saw him get the ball in for Michael Smith with the tall striker heading just over. At the other end a long ball from former Millers loanee Tom Elliott for Jed Wallace and the former Portsmouth attacking midfielder put the ball just wide of the post. With a minute to go before half-time a volley from Smith was blocked but it fell to Semi Ajayi who could only find the side netting before Lions’ ‘keeper Jordan Archer saved a shot from Ryan Manning.
Millwall started the second half well and Millers skipper Richard Wood was soon called into action to stop an attack by Aiden O’Brien with the resulting corner easily collected by Marek Rodak. At the other end Kyle Vassell got his head to a Ryan Williams cross but saw the ball go wide. Ryan Manning saw yellow for a foul on Ryan Tunnicliffe with the resulting Shaun Williams free-kick going past the post. As the hour mark approached the Millers were all camped in their own half and when a Shaun Williams corner was headed towards goal by Jake Cooper only a double save from Rodak stopped the visitors from equalising. A great understanding between Kyle Vassell and Michael Smith saw the latter in a one-on-one situation with Jordan Archer and perhaps should have scored but saw the ‘keeper deal with it. A double substitution for the visitors followed with Lee Gregory and Aiden O’Brien come off with Jiri Skalak and new boy, and former Millers target,Tom Bradshaw. Five minutes later only another superb save from Rodak to deny Tom Elliott kept the hosts in front. Wood had to be alert with Bradshaw on the attack and put the ball out for a corner which Shaun Williams sent in to Bradshaw’s head who put it inches over the crossbar. A standing ovation greeted the Millers first substitution when Michael Smith was replaced by Jamie Proctor and minutes later Millwall brought on Steve Morison for Ryan Tunnicliffe. Ryan Williams at one end and Wallace at the other had shots that didn’t bother either ‘keeper before Joe Newell replaced Kyle Vassell for the Millers. A bad foul on Ryan Williams saw Millwall’s Conor McLaughlin go into the book. In the four minutes of time added on Rotherham cranked up the pressure and had a series of throw-ins before Wallace got free and tried his luck at the other end but Rodak was equal to it.
All in all a good win for Rotherham United which sees them move up to fifteenth in the table. Some nice football by both sides when they finally got it on the floor and not flying about in the air. As Sunday dinner-time kick-offs go it was probably worth missing out on your Yorkshire Puddings for.
Referee – Geoff Eltringham
Crowd – 8,197 (694 from Millwall)
