I think if we are being honest nobody going to the game at the DW Stadium expected the Millers to come back with anything so we were all pleasantly surprised to get a point – a point which, at the start of the game, we, the fans, would have been very happy with. And there were times in the game when it was difficult to tell which team were top of the league and which were hoping for a play-off place.
But, should the Millers have come away with more? They could have been one up in the first minute and there were other chances which maybe some of the players should have done better with. And, no, I’m not being too critical because I’m the first to acknowledge how well the team did yesterday, I’m just stating facts.
I think it’s fair to say that the Millers frustrated Wigan and early on Wigan really couldn’t get to grips with Jon Taylor and the only way they could stop Michael Smith was to pull him, tug him and try to swap shirts during the game. Of course Wigan had chances too but nine times out of ten there was a defender there to stop them, usually Michael Ihiekwe.
Rotherham Manager Paul Warne was rightly proud of his team yesterday saying they’d been asked to play brave and that’s what they did while Wigan Manager Paul Cook also praised the Millers saying they caused his players ‘a few problems’.
So it was twelve hundred happy Millers who made their way home over the border to Yorkshire yesterday evening. No, we didn’t see any goals but then that means we kept a clean sheet. There was controversy when the Millers saw what looked like a definite penalty not given while Wigan fans also thought they should have had a spot-kick. We saw the start of the game delayed because of ‘parachutists on the pitch’, which, frankly, is a new one on me. And, for the first time in many a month we watched football in the sun. Play-offs? Oh, I think so.
Now it’s off to Kent on Tuesday night for the long trek to take on our re-arranged game with Gillingham.
DW Stadium
League One
14/04/2018 4:00 pm
Attendance: 9630
Referee: Christopher Sarginson
| Wigan Athletic | Rotherham United | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walton | Rodak | ||||||
| Byrne | Emmanuel | ||||||
| Elder | Purrington | ||||||
| Dunkley | Wood | ||||||
| Burn | Ihiekwe | ||||||
| Power | Vaulks | ||||||
| Jacobs | Towell (Forde) | ||||||
| Morsy | Palmer | ||||||
| Powell (Roberts) | Williams | ||||||
| Massey (Vaughan) | Taylor | ||||||
| Grigg (Colclough) | Smith | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Jones | Price | ||||||
| Bruce | Ajayi | ||||||
| Perkins | Cummins | ||||||
| Roberts | Forde | ||||||
| Walker | Ball | ||||||
| Colclough | Lavery | ||||||
| Vaughan | Yates | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 11 | Goal attempts | 7 |
| 2 | On Target | 2 |
| 5 | Corners | 5 |
| 10 | Fouls | 14 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 52 | % | 48 |