Carabao Cup Second Round
Wednesday 28th August 2019
A dull and dreary match with a dramatic finale - it's fair to say I've witnessed better over the many years now that I've been watching football!
According to my stats (because I'm one of them sad folk who keeps a list of every single game they've attended), this was my 900th competitive game just in England - or at least 'competitive games' which I include anyway!
Even though the Carabao Cup isn't a priority for either side, the game promised plenty on paper; a South Yorkshire 'derby' with the underdog at home and their noisy neighbours from down the road flying high in the Championship.
In reality, Rotherham were workmanlike, organised and difficult to break down but they struggled to muster up clear openings. Sheffield Wednesday, resting a few players, all too often lacked quality and for the neutral, it was more a case of enduring rather than enjoying the 90 minutes.
The highlight of the night was probably listening to some random Rotherham fan constantly barrack Wednesday's Italian star Fernando Forestieri whilst he was warming up. Being able to speak Italian (to an extent), I could translate and even FF saw the funny side of being called 'F**king sh*t' amongst a few other things in his own mother tongue.
That, and a rodent suddenly appearing from one of the advertising boards and scaring the crap out of a photographer sat nearby, were the genuine match highlights! Oh, and some fat bloke (a 'super' fan according to the Sheffield Star) got dragged out of the Wednesday end by several stewards, which brought about plenty of cheers and laughter.
Despite glorious sunshine over the Bank Holiday weekend, by the pre-game warm-up the weather had turned miserable with grey clouds lingering above and drizzle threatening to dampen the atmosphere.
It was a lively enough start with Wednesday immediately from kick-off surging forward and seeing a shot go wide from Joey Pelupessy. Rotherham responded as Ben Wiles got on the end of a cross, but saw his header routinely saved by the visiting 'keeper.
The Millers had more possession and dictated play early on - going close again when Freddie Ladapo flashed a shot wide from Dan Barlaser's corner. Otherwise though, Wednesday defended well, kept shape and numbers, and at no point were they bombarded with crosses or anything.
Wednesday should have done much better just shy of the half-hour mark when Paul Warne's side were caught sleeping at a corner. A ball was delivered deep to the back-post area towards Dominic Iorfa but he couldn't direct his header on target.
Matt Crooks blazed over with a speculative shot a few minutes later before the Owls' Jordan Rhodes saw a terrific diving header go straight at Daniel Iversen at the other end.
Without doubt, the best chance of the half came close to the interval when Freddie Ladapo broke clear having latched onto Michael Smith's knockdown but his effort agonisingly went wide of the target despite having beaten visiting 'keeper Cameron Dawson.
So, at half-time, it was goalless having all been a bit too predictable. Rotherham were a bit direct and Michael Ihiekwe had impressed me with a couple of decent interceptions.
In the second half, the Millers had a few early chances which they were unable to convert; one of which was very meaningful with Matt Crooks sliding a glorious ball towards Smith, who was unable to direct the ball into the net.
Wiles was then thwarted before Wednesday charged up the other end and had a chance of their own with Iversen denying Adthe Nuhiu, whilst a goalmouth scramble inside the Millers' six-yard box also came to pass with nobody converting.
Dawson then denied Wiles at his near-post as Rotherham went close again around the hour mark.
Though things had got better and more exciting since the interval, with minutes ticking by what the game really needed was a spark; a poor tackle, a red card or a goal (preferably) - just something to bring proceedings to life and get folk off their seats and more excited.
With Forestieri introduced, my suspicion was he could be the 'game changer' which was needed but instead, fellow substitute Kadeem Harris nearly provided a breakthrough on 81 minutes when his appetising cross was headed wide by Morgan Fox.
The deeper it got into the game, the deeper Rotherham got defensively and, unsurprisingly, they feigned injuries 'here and there' as the board went up to signal six minutes of stoppage-time. It was evident they were happy to settle for penalties.
However, a shoot-out never came to fruition as right at the death, the Owls made their superior late dominance count with a last-gasp goal from Nuhiu; stabbing home from a few yards out having initially done well to get on the end of a cross from Harris.
The Millers fans were gutted and, though the cup wasn't a priority and Wednesday only drew Everton in the next round draw - a few minutes after the final whistle, neither of those softened the blow to conceding in such dramatic circumstances to their bitter near neighbours.
The few minutes that saw the Third Round draw itself was actually more exciting than the game with a string of good ties including Portsmouth vs Southampton, Colchester vs Tottenham, Man United vs Rochdale and MK Dons vs Liverpool.
Personally though, I was more gutted that Oxford got a home tie against West Ham considering the League One side had performed a miraculous comeback to beat a certain team who play in blue from South London who don't like the Hammers an awful lot!
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