A cool damp NYS faced these South Yorkshire rivals as they locked horns in this Carabao Cup 2nd Round tie.
The hosts kept the same starting line up than gained a fine 1-0 League One victory at Burton Albion last time out in a 4-3-3 formation.
Caretaker Owls boss Lee Bullen shuffled his pack & only two players who were in their starting line up in Saturdays 2-1 Championship defeat at Preston but with players of the quality of Jordan Rhodes, Sam Winnall & Atdhe Nuhiu in their starting line up it was clear the Owls were taking the competition seriously. Bullen opted for a 4-4-2 formation.
First Half
Millers striker Freddie Ladapo was only just wide with a low shot in the games first real attack on three minutes as the hosts looked to start well. A couple of Rotherham corners brought no reward before, on 10 minutes, Wednesday had their first sight of goal when a Dominic Iorfa cross was met by Nuhiu but Millers keeper Iverson was comfortably equal to it.
Owls midfielder Pelupessy was the next player to try his luck from distance but his effort was well wide. The game stuttered into a frustrating midfield battle until the 32nd minute when both sides could have scored within a minute. Firstly a fine Morgan Fox cross was perfect for Jordan Rhodes to power in a header but it was straight down the throat of Iversen who saved comfortably & from his throw out the Millers broke quickly & from Michael Smith’s pass Ladapo beat Owls keeper Cameron Dawson to the ball but unfortunately his prodded effort rolled just wide. This near miss encouraged the hosts & just shy of half time Millers striker Smith saw a fine effort from range turned around the post for a corner by Dawson after being set up by Ladapo. All square at the interval in an interesting encounter.
HT: MILLERS 0 OWLS 0
Second Half
Rotherham started the 2nd period on the offensive with Smith just failing to meet a Matt Crooks driven cross at full stretch & just after this there was a goal saving tackle from Wednesday defender Fox. He nicked the ball from the Millers midfielder Ben Wiles as he was just about to shoot after being set up by loanee midfield man Dan Balaser.
Back came the visitors & Iverson was at his best to keep out a Nuhiu header from a Fox cross as the local derby started to deliver a second half cracker of a match. Wiles was next to test Dawson who managed to claw his shot wide at the expense of another unproductive Millers corner. The introduction of Kadeem Harris just after half time & midfielder Barry Bannan on the hour provided the Championship side with quality & with his first touch set up another Nuhiu header from a free kick that went narrowly over the bar.
More quality in the form of Fernando Forrestieri was introduced for the last 15 minutes as the Owls started to ask most of the questions. Fox was only just over the top from a searching Bannan cross but in general the Rotherham back four were coping well until the SIXTH minute of five added on Nuhiu finally got his name on the scoresheet, hooking home from close range after some late ping pong in the Millers penalty area to send the 2,601 Wednesday fans behind the goal into raptures.
RESULT: MILLERS 0 OWLS 1
This was a proper rip roaring local derby with no quarter given & was properly end to end stuff especially in the second half. The League One Millers gave it a really good go & probably deserved to take the tie to a spot kick conclusion but it wasn’t to be.
words Ian Bradley, D3D4 Rotherham United correspondent