Three Home Points For Millers

Rotherham United 1 Cheltenham Town 0
Smith  (24)

A first half Michael Smith goal gave Rotherham United all three points at the New York Stadium this afternoon seeing them move into third place in the table.

Before the game kicked-off a minutes applause rang round the ground in a tribute to two former players, Lol Morgan and Glynn Jones and club sponsor Eric Twigg who have all recently sadly passed away.

Just two into the game Cheltenham were forced into a change after Sean Long went down and after treatment was replaced by Charlie Raglan. The visitors had a chance when Alfie May sent a ball into the area but Josh Vickers in the Millers goal got his hands to it. The first real chance of the match came on ten minutes when a ball from Michael Ihiekwe found Ben Wiles whose angled effort went just over the crossbar. Chieo Ogbene flew down the wing before being hacked to the floor by Lewis Freestone with referee Oliver Langford giving a foul but not even speaking to the fouler. Dan Barlaser took the resulting set-piece find Wiles who headed over. Richard Wood won the ball sending it to Ollie Rathbone who in turn found Barlaser but his cross to Mickel Miller was too short and easily cleared. A goal kick from Town ‘keeper Owen Evans saw it fall to Ihiekwe whose great ball through found Wiles who decided to shoot from distance putting the ball into the crowd which was followed by some lovely ball work by Rathbone who found Evans equal to his low shot. After the pressure came the goal. A long ball forward from Ihiekwe saw the ball going towards William Boyle who was put under pressure from Smith with the Millers forward getting the ball turning and firing into the bottom corner of the net. It was the hosts who might have made more of a Wiles pass to Wes Harding who slipped but still controlled the ball putting a cross into the six yard box but Evans got there before a red shirted player. The first yellow of the game went to William Boyle for hacking down Wiles after he’d sent Ogbene on his way with a free-kick being awarded when the Millers had the ball in such a good space. And Boyle might count himself lucky when minutes later he brought a leg up as Rathbone went past him to trip him up with Mr Langford saying nothing. Minutes later Vickers came to clear a ball and was unceremoniously tripped by Daniel Nlundulu who was booked. With the first half coming to an end some lazy defending allowed May to get into enough space to shoot with his shot going inches over the bar.

Rotherham came out all guns blazing in the second half and when a Mickel Miller corner was swung into the box Michael Smith saw his header go over before Owen Evans had to be on his toes to get down to a ball before Richard Wood got to an Ollie Rathbone cross in. Both Town’s Alfie May and the Millers’ Smith received lengthy treatment for separate incidents although both were fit enough to continue. Just after the hour mark Cheltenham looked to be through on goal when Callum Wright received the ball from Matty Blaire but Chieo Ogbene was there to clear up. Aaron Ramsey was the next player to come on for the Robins with Alfie May making way. Ogbene made his way down the wing skipping past a couple of challenges sending the ball to Wes Harding who found Rathbone but the central-midfielder saw his shot blaze over the crossbar before Dan Barlaser crossed to Richard Wood who sent it short to Freddie Ladapo who also saw his shot go into the crowd behind the goal. Three sides of the ground were up shouting when Ogbene appeared to be felled in the penalty area but referee Langford wasn’t interested before a ball from Mickel Miller was expertly headed in by Michael Smith but the joy was short lived as the linesman had raised his flag – probably for the first time in the game – for offside. The visitors last change of the game came twenty minutes from time when Spurs loanee  Kion Etete came on for his debut replacing Daniel N’Lundulu. Mickel Miller was replaced for Rotherham with Shane Ferguson coming on. A Callum Wright cross found Charlie Raglan who saw his shot go wide before a Town free-kick led to a corner which was sent in for Liam Sercombe for Lewis Freestone who put the ball wide of the post. Another change for Rotherham saw Jamie Lindsay on for Ollie Rathbone. A very late challenge on Barlaser saw Sercombe booked which was followed by the Millers last change when Freddie Ladapo made way for Will Grigg. As the board went up for a further nine minutes an Ogbene cross saw Wiles rise to head the ball but it was too high. At the other end Vickers had to be alert to hold onto a shot from Wright. A late yellow for another foul on Ogbene went to Conor Thomas. The Millers did well to run the time down by getting the ball into the corner and winning corners and a free-kick to hold onto all three points this afternoon.

This was a game that was littered with falling down players (mainly in blue) and free-kicks so not the prettiest game we’ve seen but at the end of it all we got three points in a bid to get back to the top of the table.

Attendance – 9,187 – 273 Robins made the trip

Referee – Oliver Langford