A cool cloudy but thankfully dry Sunday afternoon greeted these two League 1 promotion contenders as they took to the field at NYS in front of a healthy 9000+ crowd including over 800 Posh supporters.

The hosts named an unchanged team from their late, late victory in their Boxing Day match at Shrewsbury while Darren Ferguson’s Posh were without key players including the hugely influential Marcus Maddison as his team aimed to bounce back from the damaging 3-0 home defeat to the Millers South Yorkshire neighbours Doncaster.

First Half

Paul Warne’s Millers started the game on the front foot & forward Carlton Morris wasn’t too far over with a header from an Ogbene cross after just 6 minutes. Winger Ogbene was in the thick of the early action & disappointingly scuffed his shot after a strong run gave him the shooting chance. Posh eventually ventured forward & Harrison Burrows skied an effort over the bar after the Millers failed to clear. Back came the hosts & Posh keeper Pym saved well from an Olasunde effort as the Millers kept up the pressure. There was a blow for the hosts midway through the half as CB Clark Robertson had to leave the field with an injury to be replaced by the evergreen Richard Wood who was to have a vital contribution to make to the game’s outcome. The hosts continued to have the lion’s share of the play but created little in the way of clear-cut chances although CB Adam Thompson’s header from another Ogbene cross was only just wide. Little was seen of Posh’s feared attack but the Millers were given a scare on the stroke of HT when a Niall Mason cross found top scorer Ivan Toney ten yards out but the striker could only direct his header straight at Millers keeper Daniel Iversen when he should have done better.

HT Millers 0 Posh 0

Second Half

The hosts were back in the ascendency at the start of the second period & it took an excellent save by Pym to keep out a Dan Barlaser free kick after a Frankie Kent foul that earned the defender a caution. The Millers finally got the goal their dominance deserved on 50 minutes. A Millers corner was partially cleared to Morris & his excellent cross was powered home by Wood. Worse was to come for the visitors just three minutes later when Kent flattened Matt Crooks in full flow to earn his second yellow card in 5 minutes & off went the defender. Ihiekwe, Barlaser & Ogbene all went close as the hosts could smell only their fourth home victory of the season. The second goal duly arrived on 68 minutes following a Matt Crooks break from the halfway line where his attempted cross was diverted into the net by unfortunate Posh defender Butler.

Three minutes later it was 10 against 10 when Millers defender Mattock was given a straight red card for a stupid headbutt on Toney. Rather than deflating the Millers the setback seemed to galvanise the hosts as they continued to attack the flagging Posh rearguard almost at will. The third goal arrived on 77 minutes through another own goal. Another Barlaser free-kick found Wood’s head again but his effort was going wide but hit Ward & went into the net for 3-0. Sub Michael Smith & Wood again had efforts saved by the overworked Pym before the Millers rounded off the scoring in the 3rd of 5 added minutes thanks to an audacious overhead kick from sub Kyle Vassell to complete a comprehensive Millers win to round off a largely successful decade for the South Yorkshire team.

FT Millers 4 Posh 0

This was a long-overdue commanding home victory from the Millers over a surprisingly poor Posh side that will send a message of intent to the rest of L1 as Warne’s side leapfrog Posh into third place at the season’s halfway stage.

Darren Ferguson has work to do to rebuild confidence after two damaging defeats over the holiday period threaten to derail their promotion ambitions & the return of key players when fit should help.

words Ian Bradley, D3D4 Rotherham correspondent