Rotherham United 2-1 Norwich City

Rotherham United 2-1 Norwich City

Sky Bet Championship

Saturday 2nd September 2023

If Rotherham United survive in the Championship again this year then winning games will be the only thing which matters, and this 2-1 victory over Norwich City gave them their first three points of the season (plus a big confidence boost) heading into the international break.

Because Rotherham are the division’s smallest club, there’s a certain narrative and perception about them - and for proof of that you just need to have a look at the BBC report on this game which made out this was a ‘David vs Goliath’ best vs worst type of fixture when we’ve only played a whopping four fixtures up to now and nothing whatsoever has really taken shape.

The budgets between Rotherham and Norwich (plus quite a few others at this level) are quite different - that can’t be debated, but what the Millers possess is a group of grafters who’ll put in 100%, be strong and resilient, and have a strong work-ethic. That's something money can’t buy and, put together with their direct style of play, it certainly bridges the gap on supposedly ‘better’ teams at bigger clubs with more technical and quality players.

Anyone who was at the Blackburn game a few weeks ago will know had it not been for Fred Onyedinma’s ridiculous red card and Bobby Madley’s dreadful refereeing display, the Millers would have won - and this time around, in a game which I thought might end up being a repeat of that ‘Desmond Tutu’, they got three points which they deserved against an underwhelming Norwich team.

Despite Angus Gunn being forced to race out of his box in the first few minutes in an incident where he only just got to the ball first and very nearly clattered Andre Green - a case for a red card if he'd got the man and not the ball first, Norwich had the better of the first 20 minutes and knocked the ball around okay.

But that soon changed when Gunn palmed a vicious snap-shot from Fred Onyedinma wide at his near-post and from the resulting corner, the ball reached Dexter Lembikisa on the edge of the box who let fly with a vicious, audacious and fizzing strike that flew at speed into the back of the net and was met by an eruption of noise around the New York Stadium (bar those in the away end obviously).

The opener gave Rotherham belief, momentum and it altered the game somewhat. 

Suddenly, they looked brighter and more purposeful when they went forward; they were now getting forward more anyway. You sensed a second goal might be coming and on the back of a really decent 20-minute spell after scoring the opener, it was 2-0 when Jordan Hugill brilliantly got his head on Cafu’s cross and cushioned a glancing header past Angus Gunn causing the home fans to go wild again.

Norwich had to do something because at this point they were getting their backsides kicked and straight after the re-start, they pulled a goal back when Jonathan Rowe cut into the box and played the ball across the face of goal to Christian Fassnacht who’d been left in too space and had a straightforward finish. Questions should be asked about the defending because it was all too easy and at this point - with a good 40 minutes remaining - you felt the Canaries might be singing again by full-time.

Despite having the momentum for a while plus a noisy backing behind the goal they were now attacking towards, Norwich couldn’t really maintain that intensity though and instead Rotherham had three big moments down at the other end (two from the counter-attack) where they could have re-established their two-goal lead and gone on a long way to killing the game off.

The first was when Jordan Hugill sent a header over at the far-post after Cohen Bramall’s cross found him unmarked but was just ever so slightly too high, the second was when Hugill himself broke away and didn’t play in Ollie Rathbone when he should have done (hands were straight up to apologise for that one) and then the third chance was when Cafu’s curler from the edge of the box was just a whisker off-target.

Had Rotherham not won, any of those moments would have been cited as the reason why, but in the end it came down to seven minutes of injury-time during which the ball was in play for about four-and-a-half (something I purposely counted to see just how well the new rules are being enforced) and Norwich just couldn’t get that momentum back enough to create that one big opportunity they needed. Viktor Johansson wasn't properly tested and Rotherham held on for three points which they deserved.

Having watched Rotherham twice now I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be shown a little bit more respect by certain people - especially in the media who paint their silly narratives.

Their style might not be the prettiest in some eyes, albeit there is some good individual footballers in this team (e.g. Ollie Rathbone) and there are things to improve at the back (for proof, look at the goal conceded here or the fact they’ve not kept a clean-sheet yet in five attempts) but they’re competing with teams whose players are supposedly better and more technical, they aren’t getting brushed aside (with the exception of the defeat to Stoke City on the opening day) and I’d have more confidence in the Millers chances of survival than one or two others including Sheffield Wednesday who’ve gone down the foreign route with Xisco which is showing absolutely no signs of working.

If the Millers lose Ollie Rathbone, who makes this team tick, or Jordan Hugill (no pace but his hold-up play is his best strength as he’s very effective in bringing others into the game; not to mention the goals he’ll chip in with and his knack of getting them against his old clubs) then I might fear more for their survival chances, but with those two - plus others like Cafu (decent) and Fred Onyedinma (decent too), the athleticism and the wider work-rate across the team and 100% effort they’ve got, I think they'll be okay when it comes to staying up.

And if any ‘middle of the road’ Championship team rocks up at Rotherham thinking they’re in for an easy ride, they’re going to get a surprise - just ask Blackburn and now Norwich too!