Summer took a final bow in the heat of a late September afternoon at the New York Stadium this afternoon with temperatures of 25 degrees as the two teams, both of whom have had solid but unspectacular starts to the season took to the pristine-looking playing surface.

FIRST HALF

The hosts were unsurprisingly the first to show & from a Jamie Lindsay cross, striker Freddie Ladapo sent a close-range header wide. Rotherham continued to press & from their next attack on five minutes ex Shrew Carlton Morris was only narrowly wide after Ladapo had charged down Shrews keeper Max O’Leary’s clearance after a poor Omar Beckles back pass. The first Shrewsbury venture forward on eleven minutes almost brought the game’s first goal. A fine Josh Laurent run saw him beat two Millers defenders & put Shaun Whalley into a shooting position but out of nowhere Millers full-back, Billy Jones made a last-ditch goal-saving tackle to divert the ball out for an unproductive Shrews corner.

As the half entered the midway period there were home fans claims for a penalty as Morris went over in the area after an Olly Norburn challenge but the referee waved away the claims. On the half-hour, Ladapo’s movement provided him with a shooting chance on the edge of the box but his well-struck shot was well parried by O’Leary in the visitor’s goal. Not to be outdone Shrews wideman Ryan Giles made a strong run of his own & he produced a well-struck effort of his own which was equally well saved by Millers keeper Daniel Iversen. From the resultant corner Shrews defender, Ethan Ebanks-Landell got in front of his marker but headed wide. The hosts were enjoying the lion’s share of possession but were finding it difficult to get past the brick wall that was Shrews three CB’s Ebanks-Landell, Beckles & Williams who had been outstanding in the first half.

HT MILLERS 0 SHREWS 0

It is difficult to describe the events (or non-events) of the second half. The hosts completely ran out of ideas, Ladapo had a snapshot narrowly wide with seventy minutes on the clock followed by a fine O’Leary save from an Ihekwe header but the visitors had definitely settled for a point long before the final whistle & offered very little going forward & the only thing the 8380 crowd had to entertain them was a combination of referee Mr Boyeson’s baffling decisions & Shrewsbury’s blatant timewasting especially from keeper O’Leary as the game meandered to an inevitable goalless stalemate.

FT MILLERS 0 SHREWS 0

Shrews boss Sam Ricketts will definitely be the happier of the two managers after his side’s fine defensive display earned a deserved point. As I have said, his defenders put everything in front of the ball in securing their point but their set up, especially in the second half, was so defensive. For the sake of the game entertainment-wise, I wish the Shrews would have had more of a go going forward.

Paul Warne must cut a frustrated figure this evening as his talented side were thwarted almost every time they tried to build up a head of steam & in the second half especially seemed to completely run out of ideas. The chances they had were half-chances at best, nothing clear cut but the Millers at no stage looked like being beaten, earned a valuable point & kept a rare clean sheet so the 0-0 scoreline is certainly not as bad as some Millers fans on social media are making it out to be.

words Ian Bradley, D3D4 Rotherham correspondent