The Millers And The EFL Trophy

Rotherham United begin their EFL Trophy this season with a trip to the Keepmoat Stadium where they take on Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday evening.

I think it’s fair to say since winning this competition in 1996 – then called the Auto Windscreen Trophy – the Millers haven’t faired so well.  Like now the first round of the competition then was divided into Northern and Southern areas and was groups, then of three teams.  The Millers beat Chester City away and drew at home to Burnley to win the group, going on to face Wigan at Millmoor in the second round.  The game was a goalless draw with Rotherham winning four-one on penalties.  The area quarter-final game at home to Lincoln City was a three-one victory and the area semi-final was also at Millmoor when we beat York City four-one.  We then went into the area final with Carlisle winning both the home and away tie two-nil to give us a final game at Wembley against Shrewsbury Town.  Nigel Jemson scored in each half to give Rotherham a two-nil lead with the Shrews pulling one back in the last ten minutes but the Trophy was ours.

There was a change of format for the following season which saw as many teams get byes as play in the first round, with the Millers getting knocked out by Blackpool at home.  We got a bye the following season and didn’t start until the second round when a trip to Wigan ended in a three-nil defeat and we played Wigan at Millmoor the following season, in the first round, which again saw us lose three-nil.  The 1999/2000 season saw us beat Shrewsbury two-one at Millmoor but lose in round two to Chesterfield four-one while the Spireites beat us again the following season, this time in round one, four-three when the competition was re-named the LDV Vans Trophy. 

The Millers didn’t feature in the competition again until the 2005/6 season when we took on Accrington Stanley at Millmoor.  The game ended three-all with Rotherham winning three-two on penalties to get a second round tie with Macclesfield Town who won two-one.  The 2006/7 season saw another name change this time being called the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with Rotherham losing away at Hartlepool three-one in the first round.  The next season saw us beat Mansfield Town  and getting a one-one draw with Grimsby, the Mariners winning on penalties.  After a bye the following year we went on to beat Leeds United at Don Valley four-two followed by another ‘home’ victory winning two-nil against Leicester City.  The area semi-finals saw us drawn at Don Valley against Darlington which we won on penalties after the game ended one-one with the area final being against Scunthorpe United.  We lost two-one at Glanford Park followed by a one-nil loss at Don Valley.  The 2009/10 season saw us paired with Huddersfield Town who we lost two-one to, the following season beating Lincoln one-nil in the first round and then bearing Burton Albion two-one but lost in the area quarter-final five-two to Huddersfield Town.  A bye the following season saw us lose to Sheffield United in the second round and the next year lose in the first round to York City.  The 20213/14 completion saw the Millers again get a bye then travel to beat York three-nil before beating Hartlepool at Victoria Park two-one before going out to Fleetwood Town in the area quarter-final two-one at the Highbury Stadium.

In the 2016/17 season the competition again changed it’s name, this time to the Checkatrade Trophy with the Millers being in it the following season in a group Bradford City, Chesterfield and a Manchester City Academy side.  We beat Bradford away three-nil, Chesterfield won two-one at the New York Stadium while we drew one-all with the young City side, who beat us on penalties seeing us knocked out at the first stage.  The last time we were in this competition was in the 2019/20 season known then as the Leasing.com Trophy when our group included Doncaster Rovers, Lincoln City and an U21 Manchester United side.  We lost at Lincoln three-nil, beat Rovers three-two at the New York Stadium but lost out to the young United side two-nil seeing us finish bottom of the group.

The Competition began in the 1983/4 season and was known as the Associates Members’ Cup, the Millers losing out in the first round to Sheffield United at Millmoor. The following season saw a name change the competition becoming the Freight Rovers Trophy, was over two legs with Rotherham drawing Chesterfield, drawing one-all at Millmoor but losing at Saltergate which saw the Spireites go through. In 1986 the format changed becoming a sort of table-come-knock-out when the Millers drew with Halifax and Mansfield so didn’t continue after the first round. Another new name saw it become the Sherpa Van Trophy with the Millers beating Scarborough but losing seven-one away at Sunderland so again didn’t go through. Losing to Grimsby but beating Doncaster saw Rotherham get through to the second round the next year where they lost four-three to Blackpool. Now to the 1989/90 season when again a name change saw it re-named the Leyland DAF Cup where the Millers finished top of group seven by beating Hartlepool and York and went on to beat Huddersfield three-nil at Millmoor but lost in the quarter-final away at Bolton one-nil. Two draws in round one the next season saw Rotherham go to Tranmere in round two losing three-nil. For the 1991/2 season it became the Autoglass Trophy which the Millers got through to the first round without having to play in the preliminary rounds. A three-nil home win over Chester City saw them draw with Burnley at Millmoor in the quarter-final with the visitors winning on penalties. Again starting in the first round the following season was as far as Rotherham got after a three-all home draw with Wigan saw Athletic win on penalties. The Auto Windscreen Trophy came into being in 1994 with Rotherham getting through the preliminary rounds but losing to Wigan three-one at Millmoor followed by the Millers first Wembley appearance the next season.