Rotherham United 2-0 Scunthorpe United

Rotherham United 2-0 Scunthorpe United
New York Stadium
Wednesday 16th May 2018
League One Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg

The play-offs undoubtedly produce the most exciting, intense and nail-biting games during a campaign and with local rivals Rotherham and Scunthorpe locking horns in League One, the second leg tie at the New York Stadium was simply too good an opportunity to miss.

Rotherham are a side who play my favoured type of football - long balls, direct play and with a robust approach even though they can knock it around quite well sometimes - and it's certainly been enjoyable watching them on a couple of occasions already this season. Scunny, meanwhile, I've seen less of, but the fact they achieved a top six finish proves their credentials.

Northern Rail did their best to scupper plans of a straightforward evening out in South Yorkshire with 'cable theft' being the latest in a long line of excuses they've trotted out already this year. The theft subsequently made Rotherham Central station inaccessible for most of the day - thus meaning the dreaded 'rail replacement bus services' were in operation from Meadowhall. Nevertheless, the unusual way of reaching Rotherham did allow for an impromptu opportunity to take a sneak peak into the Millers' old ground, Millmoor - something which I'd actually been aiming to do for a while, but never quite got round to doing.

Passing Millmoor on the bus!

The replacement buses went over the bridge that ran close to the Tivoli End at Millmoor, allowing for a quick glance in a gap between the stands that looked onto the pitch. Although Rotherham played their last game here 10 years ago, the ground has bizarrely been used quite frequently since by Sunday league teams and any other Tom, Dick or Harry who has fancied a kickaround.

It's clear now the pitch is overgrown, though nowhere near as bad as the Belle Vue pitch got at Doncaster Rovers after they left their old stadium, whilst seats in the unfinished 'new' side stand have now turned to an ugly-looking shade of pink.

It's impossible to guess what will happen with Millmoor in the future and whether it'll ever be demolished, but the former home of the Millers looks grim and gloomy in the South Yorkshire skyline in stark contrast to the super-shiny and brand-spanking New York Stadium which is just a couple of hundred yards away.

For anyone who hasn't yet been to Rotherham's new ground, it's certainly one of the best 'new builds' around - close to the railway station and town centre and the stadium itself has more character than most purpose-built new stadiums in the country. Yes, the concourse is tight (especially in the away end) and its steep climbing up the steps to your seat but there aren't any crap views here.

The shiny exterior of Rotherham's New York Stadium

The New York Stadium experience is made even better by some of the best pre-match tunes that I've heard anywhere in Europe in recent years. When you get Blur, The Cure, Ocean Colour Scene, etc, on the PA system before a game then you know that someone at the club has bloody good taste in music and isn't scared of proving it!

As to be expected, the game was nail-biting and full of tension from the outset and the electric atmosphere in the stands seemed to have a bad effect on the hosts early on as they took time to settle and looked very disjointed for much of the opening 20 minutes or so.

Scunny's Ivan Toney was a constant pain in the arse for Rotherham's backline - quite surprising as he hasn't exactly had a vintage year by any means - but he always looked capable of creating a chance from very little and needed constant attention in the early stages.

The teams emerge from the tunnel (to a sea of red and white)

When Rotherham did settle they quickly began to show their quality and Michael Ihiekwe went close twice in quick succession before Richard Towell drew a top-drawer fingertip save from visiting 'keeper Rory Watson - probably one of the best saves that I've witnessed this season.

The Millers pressed hard and endured an agonising goalmouth scramble in which they couldn't poke the ball home, and it was quickly becoming obvious they needed to capitalise during their sustained spell of pressure with the game being so one-sided.

It looked as scores would be level at the break, but that changed in first half injury-time.

Paul Warne looks on from the sidelines

Scunny caretaker boss Nick Daws was whinging to the officials that the half-time whistle should have already been blown as Will Vaulks was lining up a long-throw. Vaulks' throw subsequently caused mayhem and Richard Wood's made a glancing connection to the ball, placing it perfectly into the net to send the majority of the New York Stadium into raptures.

Certain incidents can alter the course of games and another one occurred in the very early stages of the second half. Toney played through Duane Holmes for a golden chance, but with the goal gaping the Iron midfielder had a woeful touch and saw his shot smothered as Rotherham remained ahead.

Rory McArdle then went into the book for a mistimed kung-fu kick on Ryan Williams that was more akin to something out of mortal combat. Whilst it wasn't deliberate or intentional, the Scunny player was lucky to only get a yellow card for such a ridiculously reckless challenge.

Second half action

The Millers soon got their own back though, by delivering a knockout blow in the best possible style to double their advantage and put them on course for Wembley.

Josh Emmanuel, who is a big, bamboozling right-back who likes to push up (and leave bloody great big gaps behind him which will get exposed one day) went on a customary advance down the flank after some quick link-up play and his ball across the face of goal was poked home by Vaulks.

With under 30 minutes remaining, Scunthorpe had to go for it and in what was remaining of the game they absolutely peppered the hosts with shots, crosses and chances galore - an obvious question would be why did they wait until they were two goals down before turning in such high-tempo play that had their counterparts on the ropes?

A pitch invasion at the final whistle. Who would have guessed it?

The Iron had four or five gilt-edge opportunities in a quarter-of-an-hour spell and if just one had gone in, there would have no doubt been a grandstand finale.

As it was though, Rotherham held on and the final whistle was sparked by a joyous pitch invasion, despite frequent requests over the PA system for fans not to do so (something which only makes it more bloody likely, on most occasions).

The Millers will now face surprise package Shrewsbury Town in the League One play-off final - a game that is very tough to call as both teams adopt a similar physical style and there isn't a great deal of difference between the two sides.