46 Dinnington and Maltby Guardian Friday 20th March 2009
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Result of the season? TWO superb goals gave the Millers a victory that arguably ranks as their best of the season.
coming moments later in the 50th minute. It encapsulated Reuben Reid’s He was off for some minutes, back confidence and self-assurance, upped on for a few more and then off for by the midweek hat-trick. much longer. Under pressure, he kept calm and Rochdale got the chance to pick up Rochdale were, as expected, after a slowish start. then made space for a clinical finish. Burchill fired just wide and alert a handful but the Millers Finally, after 38 minutes, Broughton emerged on top in convincing came back down the tunnel, then had goalkeeping denied Reid outside the area. his head bandaged only to abort and fashion. But Rochdale, with the dangerous This was a performance of resilience, Mark Burchill returned to the fray and Nicky Adams sent on, were requiring was to be a lively contributor for the calm heads and big hearts in defence, full concentration and defiant remainder. clever skill and threatening attacking defending. But it was Ryan Taylor, moving in going forward. On 71 minutes Taylor plucked his from the left to the centre and looking In eight games against the League special strike out of the locker – from much happier there, whose One top five, Rotherhan are unbeaten. the right, left-footed and curling at Both sides were stripped of a couple performance thereafter made it such a some pace into the far side of the net. significant move. of players who would surely have Mark Hudson, after a smart link If the first half was rather started (Pablo Mills through illness, with Burchill, nearly got a third but nondescript, the second half was a Jamie Clarke ankle injury). Rochdale were back in it with 15 thriller – a credit to both teams in the Boss Mark Robins said he had told minutes left courtesy of Adam wind and on a poor pitch. the players the day before that he felt Rotherham defended solidly without LeFondre’s header from an Adams they were now ready to play against cross. too many alarms but did little going the top teams. They backed up those Dale got a bit desperate and forward other than a Taylor shot on the words. Rotherham looked to pick them off and turn saved at full stretch by Frank Not before an unproductive first had the opportunity nine minutes from Fielding. half, however, although they were time when Taylor was downed. It changed right from the restart. disrupted by playing most of it with 10 Reid changed tack with this penalty Taylor and Burchill linked for the little men after an early head injury to and rattled it against the bar. Scot’s shot to be saved with the lead Drewe Broughton.
Rochdale 1 Millers 2
MATCH FACTS
Score: Rochdale 1 Rotherham Utd 2 Rochdale: Fielding, Wiseman, McArdle, Stanton, Kennedy, Thompson (Higginbotham 56), Mark Jones, Keltie, Rundle (Adams 56), Le Fondre, Thorpe (McEvilly 73). Subs not used: Russell, Ramsden. Booked: Keltie. Goal: Le Fondre 75. Rotherham Utd: Warrington 6, Tonge 8, Sharps 8, Fenton 8, Green 8, Cummins 7, Harrison 8, Hudson 7, Reid 7, Broughton (Burchill 38) 6, Taylor 7. Subs not used: Cann, Joseph, J Taylor, Holmes. Booked: Reid. Goals: Reid 50, Ryan Taylor 71. Attendance: 3,201.
The finale was exciting as Rotherham defended their area (Andy Warrington was so well protected he didn’t have much to do all half) and there was nothing closer than a brilliant effort from Burchill in stoppage time which stranded the ‘keeper and was a whisker over. Rochdale remain a handful at home for anybody at this level. The Millers, seven unbeaten and with several notable individual performances, have given themselves a fighting chance of a top half finish.
Robins ‘baffled’ as the run is halted ROTHERHAM’S seven-match unbeaten run was brought to an abrupt halt by the worst away side in League Two. Aldershot Town, who began the match with the joint worst away record in the division, finished it with three points after exploiting some wretched defending by the Millers from some set pieces. John Grant’s deft touch from a long throw opened the scoring in the 15th minute before he stooped in to head home from a corner just before half-time. Rotherham looked lightweight without the physical presence of Drew Broughton up front and captain Pablo Mills shielding the defence. However, they started well and should have gone ahead after sustained early pressure. Within the opening 10 minutes the Millers should have been ahead. But Danny Harrison shot straight at Aldershot’s reserve keeper, the Venezuelan Jaimez-Ruiz. Then Reuben Reid blazed a glorious chance over the bar. Despite Millers pressure, some heinous finishing let Aldershot get a foothold back in the game. Soon after Aldershot’s on-loan strike Jake Robinson’s chip flew too high, they struck the target. Lewis Chalmers’ long throw into the box was deftly flicked home by John Grant in the 15th minute. The Shots goal gave them the emphasis to keep going forward and came close again when the heavily bandaged Kirk Hudson fired over from Chalmers’ long ball. Rotherham tried to regain possession and had a few chances. But it wasn’t long until the away side doubled their lead. Scott Davies’ whipped corner from the left was met by the head of the
Millers 1 Aldershot 2
by Simon Peach at Don Valley
unmarked Grant in the 39th minute. The Millers looked resurgent after a half-time inquest into their performance. And after four minutes they almost reduced the deficit. Hudson broke down the left and crossed into Ryan Taylor who somehow managed to knee the ball high over the bar. A minute later Aldershot almost increased their advantage in bizarre circumstances. Andy Sandell’s in-swinging corner deceived Andy Warrington and rebounded off the post and out. From that point the game descended into a sloppy end-to-end affair, with a well-saved Reid shot and a 25-yard Jamie Green drive the closest Mark Robins’ men came before he made a change. In an attempt to alter the game Jamie Clarke replaced Mark Burchill in attack. The move saw the pace of Clarke and Reid supporting Taylor. And it worked. A 78th minute Micky Cummins cross was headed home by Clarke but it proved a mere consolation as Rotherham failed to grab an equaliser against the second worst away defence in the division. ‘Baffling’ Rotherham United manager Mark Robins was “baffled” after watching his side lose at home against Aldershot. The Millers were shell-shocked by two first-half goals from set pieces. “If we could defend properly against
two set pieces then we win the game,” said Robins after the match. John Grant’s brace was enough to hold off Rotherham’s attacking charge at the Don Valley Stadium. Robins said: “If we can score, if we hit the target with the eight or nine clear cut chances, we win the game.” “It’s disappointing, there’s no doubt about it.” “But it is baffling too because we’ve been defending so well from set pieces and open play.” “It’s baffling we haven’t got a goal.” “It’s baffling that we haven’t hit the target when it looked easier to hit that target rather than miss.” “But you’ve got to hold your hands up.” Rotherham conceded only two goals during their unbeaten run over the past seven games. And the defeat was the first time they have conceded more than a single goal in a match since the 3-0 defeat at Grimsby Town in late January. The Millers managed to convert just one of 14 shots on goal. “We’ve been on a good run and really we’ve got to look forward to the game on Saturday to put this behind us.” “From one week to the next it’s a bit up and down.” “We need to sort that consistency out,” he added. Robins was keen to heap praise on the delivery of Aldershot midfielder Scott Davies, pointing out that his side needs to provide better service in the run-in to the end of the season. And with three consecutive home matches coming up, Robins wants to move on from Tuesday night’s disappointment. “That was the first of four home games that you want to be picking points up in, that’s the disappointing thing.”
LEAGUE TWO Team P Brentford 38 Gillingham 38 Wycombe W 36 Rochdale 37 Bury 37 Exeter City 37 Shrewsbury Town 38 Bradford City 38 Dagenham & R 38 Chesterfield 35 Morecambe 37 Lincoln City 36 Darlington 36 Aldershot Town 36 Rotherham Utd 34 Notts County 38 Macclesfield T 37 Port Vale 36 Accrington S 37 Bournemouth 38 Barnet 36 Chester City 38 Grimsby Town 38 Luton Town 37
W 19 18 16 17 17 17 15 16 14 14 12 12 16 13 16 9 11 11 9 13 7 6 5 11
D 13 10 15 10 10 10 13 10 11 10 15 12 9 8 9 13 6 5 10 12 12 10 12 13
L 6 10 5 10 10 10 10 12 13 11 10 12 11 15 9 16 20 20 18 13 17 22 21 13
F 52 53 43 64 51 53 53 58 60 54 44 45 50 52 45 43 39 38 37 47 43 36 40 51
A 29 47 25 45 37 42 37 47 44 46 44 43 35 66 32 57 67 56 51 46 64 71 65 55
Pts 70 64 63 61 61 61 58 58 53 52 51 48 47 47 40 40 39 38 37 34 33 28 27 16
FIXTURES Date
Time
Opponents
Sat 21 Mar
3pm
Chesterfield
H
L2
Tues 24 Mar 7.45pm
Bury
H
L2
Sat 28 Mar
Accrington S
H
L2
Tues 31 Mar 7.45pm
Luton
A
L2
Sat 4 April
3pm
Aldershot
A
L2
Sat 11 April
3pm
Notts County
H
L2
Mon 13 April 3pm
Port Vale
A
L2
Sat 18 April
3pm
Shrewsbury
H
L2
Sat 25 April
3pm
Bradford
A
L2
Sat 2 May
3pm
Exeter
H
L2
3pm
Venue Comp
Millers eyes not smiling
“We’ve got Chesterfield coming up on the Saturday then Bury on the Tuesday.” “Two big games coming up and we need to be a bit better than that.”
MATCH FACTS
Score: Rotherham United 0 Aldershot 2 Rotherham: Warrington 6, Tonge 5, Sharps 6, Fenton 6, Green 6, Reid 6, Cummins 6, Harrison 6 (Mills 84), Hudson 5, Taylor 6, Burchill 5 (Clarke 68) Not used: Cann, Taylor, Joseph. Goals: Clarke 7 Star man: Green Aldershot: Jaimez-Ruiz, Blackburn, Charles, Winfield, Straker, Hudson (Soares 90+4), Davies, Chalmers (Cochrane 77), Sandell, Robinson (Morgan 82), Grant. Not used: Hylton, Newman. Goals: Grant 15, 39 Attendance: 2,769
STATISTICS Possession Corners Shots (On) Shots (Off) Fouls
Millers 58% 6 7 7 16
Aldershot 42% 5 7 3 19
REVELLERS thronged the streets of Sheffield, covered in green paint and silly hats as part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. But while black gold flowed in the city centre, thousands weren’t feeling so jovial a few tram stops away. After such a fantastic run Rotherham were abruptly halted by an equally poor Aldershot. Scrappy, sloppy and uninspiring were the best descriptions of the match. And defeat came after several defensive blunders from the Millers, who based their recent success on sturdy defence. Rotherham’s exciting counter-attacking start to the game soon ended, halted by Aldershot raids. And it was the Shots’ dominance from set pieces which changed the game as John Grant’s brace proved vital, if not spectacular. Rotherham may well have been tired from fixture congestion. But they will need to tighten up once more if they are to cope with the relentless Saturday and Tuesday fixtures for the next month. The Musing Miller