Second Half Goals See Millers Get Three Points

Rotherham United 2 Coventry City 0
Peltier (51)
Rathbone (90+3)


Rotherham United got their first win league since August this evening at the New York Stadium by beating Coventry City two-nil while keeping their first clean sheet of the season.

Before the game there was a minutes applause in honour of Sir Bobby Charlton who passed away at the weekend which all four stadiums of the ground stood for with chants of ‘there’s only one Bobby Charlton’ ringing round the ground.

The Millers had the first shot towards goal when a nice ball from Cafu found Dexter Lembikisa who shot from distance seeing City ‘keeper Ben Wilson getting down to smother the ball at the second attempt. At the other end a Matt Godden shot was easily saved by Viktor Johansson in the Rotherham goal. A superb sliding tackle from Cohen Bramall stopped Ben Sheaf in his tracks before he could get the ball to Yasin Ayari who had eased past his marker before Johansson did well to clear a ball in from Josh Eccles. A poor challenge from Sheaf on Ollie Rathbone saw the Millers win a free-kick which Cafu took but it was a little in front of Jordan Hugill before a super save from Johansson saw his stop Ellis Simms opening the scoring for the visitors. Rathbone was everywhere on the pitch and was unlucky not to get the ball away from Kyle McFadzean before the Millers came close to scoring after a great ball in from Hugill found the head of Fred Onyedinma but he headed wide from close range. Godden found himself with the ball in the area with only Johansson to beat until Lee Peltier slid in to take the ball off him before Johansson had to be on his toes to catch a ball in from Sheaf which had took a nasty deflection on it’s way. Simms got the ball in a good position but dithered a little and the Millers defence cleared before Christ Tiehi did well to block a shot in from Ayari. In time added on Sheaf found Godden but his control was poor which was followed by a shot from Simms being blocked by Lembikisa.

Coventry came out for the second half as they’d finished the first and won an early corner which Yasin Ayari put in for Ben Sheaf his shot being well blocked by the Millers defence. From the counter attack Ollie Rathbone flew up the pitch finding Jordan Hugill who saw his shot put behind for a corner which Arvin Appiah took and was just inches away from finding Rathbone in a shooting position. More good work from Rathbone saw him get the ball to Cohen Bramall who ran up the pitch setting his sights on goal only for his shot to be blocked before Bramall pllayed Fred Onyedinma in who tried his luck in a similar position which went out for a corner. Cafu took the set-piece floating the ball into the box with Lee Peltier rising above everyone else flicking the ball into the back of the net to put the hosts in front. Coventry nearly had an immediate response when Ayari got the better of his marker only to see the Millers goalscorer there to clear. Johansson then pulled off a brilliant save to stop Ellis Simms equalising with the former Everton striker hitting the rebound into the side netting. And it was the Viking in the Millers net who did well to see a shot from distance from Sheaf and got his fingertips to it to put it over the crossbar. A foul by Cafu saw him get the first yellow card of the night before Godden was in a good position to receive a ball put into the air by the busy Ayari but his header went wide. The first change of the night came on the hour mark when Sebastian Revan took over from Arvin Appiah for the hosts and it was the substitute whose first touch saw him send the ball into the box which a City player cleared but only as far as Rathbone who brought off a Johanssonesque save from Ben Wilson. A change for the visitors saw Haji Wright replace Matt Godden. Some great play from Lembikisa saw him get the ball to Hugill whose header came back off the upright. The referee waved a yellow card towards a few red shirted players with it seemingly Lembikisa who was booked. A cross from Christ Tiehi was perfect for Hugill’s header but the ball went inches past the post before Hugill set up Onyedeinma who brought off a good save from Wilson and it was the visiting ‘keeper again a minute later who did well to tip a shot from Rathbone round the post. Three changes for City saw  Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Callum O’Hare and Bobby Thomas on for Yasin Ayari,  Joel Latibeaudiere and  Kyle McFadzean. Lee Peltier went down and was treated on the pitch before making way for Hakeem Odoffin who was soon in action when he did well to stop Simms having a shot at goal. Nobody seemed to be near Sakamoto when a Jay Dasilva cross found him but his header went just past the post. An injury to Jordan Hugill saw Georgie Kelly come off the bench while Sam Clucas came on for Cafu. As the board went up for an extra seven minutes a yellow card was shown to City’s Bobby Thomas while the referee was called over to the Coventry bench and booked a member of the coaching staff. Three minutes into time added on Revan ran down the wing sending the ball over to Kelly who chested it down for the onrushing Rathbone who struck the ball with power which appeared to take a deflection on it’s way into the goal to give the Millers a two-nil lead. Johansson had to save from O’Hare before a header from Thomas went wide but the night belonged to the Millers as the whistle went and the Millers fans stood as one to applaud the red and white shirted players.

I’m joining the end of the treatment table and was a doubt to get to the game this evening but a few painkillers and I hobbled there and was glad I had as I really enjoyed the game tonight. I thought both teams had some good passages of play and both nearly allowed their opponents in at times while both goalkeepers were in top form.

Three points and a clean sheet – you can’t ask for much more, can you.

Attendance – 10,553 with 2,174 noisy Sky Blues fans making the trip

Referee – Lewis Smith