Rotherham United v Scunthorpe United

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Football League Trophy

Rotherham United :
Warrington, Tonge, Sharps, Fenton, Green, Reid (Ryan Taylor 71), Jason Taylor (Cummins 46), Mills, Hudson, Joseph, Broughton (Thomas 46).
Subs not used:
Cann, Danny Harrison.

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Byrne, Pearce, Mirfin, Wright, Thompson (Sparrow 71), Togwell, McCann, Woolford, Hayes (Morris 86), Hooper (Lansbury 84).
Subs not used:
Lillis, Crosby.

SULSESC REPORT

by Andy Skeels at Don Valley Stadium

ROTHERHAM away on a Tuesday night - not the easiest of trips to arrange when we've got seven London branch members travelling from the south east from towns as diverse as Orpington, Radlett, Camden, Leatherhead, Surbiton and Milton Keynes.

And matters were not made any simpler when the immobiliser on Brad's Renault Megane lived up to its name by stubbornly rendering said Megane immobile in Radlett and refusing to budge. That ruled the 'Radlett and Camden Twosome' of Brad and Matt out of a proposed 3 o'clock rendezvous at the northbound Toddington services on the M1 and eventually out of the trip north entirely. Spare ticket, anyone?

Seven became five, but after a hasty revision of transportation plans and a detour through the Buckinghamshire countryside via Newport Pagnell village itself to meet up with the 'Milton Keynes Duo' of Mark and Dan Borrill, it was a case of five into one does go, as we shoehorned the contents of two motors into one Nissan Primara, fat lads in the back. Well, Ipswich darts captain Mr. Loy anyway.

Remarkably, considering the travel difficulties, we were sitting in The Sportsman pub on Darnall Road, only five minutes' walk from the Don Valley Stadium, a good hour-and-a-half before kick-off, enjoying a pre-match pint of the Abbeydale Brewery's Deception and mulling over the evening's possibilities with the locals.

Easy win for Scunny, said the far-from-confident Millers contingent.

Scunny to blow it in spectacular style, said a far-from-confident yours truly, rekindling unhappy Millmoor memories of that 5-0 League Cup debacle which wiped out a 4-1 first leg lead.

In the end, we were all wrong and, thankfully, I was the furthest out. There was to be no re-enactment of that 1995 fiasco and while the Iron did eke out a win on the night, it was perhaps best described as comfortable, rather than easy.

In the soulless surroundings of the DVS - "Oh Quibell Park...is bigger than this' sang the travelling Irons - United set their stall out from the off to keep things tight at the back. They achieved that aim without too much difficulty and were perhaps unlucky to go in for their half-time cuppa - or whatever high energy drink is in vogue these days - without having added to their overall 2-0 advantage.

Having failed to breach the Iron rearguard for three of the four quarters of the tie, Rotherham's only hope was to come out all guns blazing in the second-half to try and snatch an early goal which would have dramatically shifted the momentum.

They nearly achieved it. Within seconds of the restart, an instinctive header from Reuben Reid was pushed onto the bar by 'Ireland's No. 1' and shortly afterwards, another Reid header from a free-kick fizzed narrowly over.

If these were the first worrying signs of Rotherham working up a head of steam, Iron fans had no real cause to fret. United were maintaining their composure at the back and as time began to run out for the anxious Millers, Murphy became more of a spectator as home 'keeper Warrington's goal came under increasing threat.

Martyn Woolford's rasping shot which thumped against the post served merely as a warning to Rotherham. Just a minute later, the game was up for the Millers when Gary Hooper delivered the coup de grace by speeding through the heart of the home defence and sliding the ball under Warrington.

So, mission accomplished, and Wembley beckons for a third time, albeit in somewhat less dramatic circumstances than those unforgettable Glanford Park nights against Crewe and Swansea.

After some celebratory fish 'n' chips in the local Handsworth chippie, it was back onto the M1 for a long, but happy journey south and I was indoors in Leatherhead shortly before 2 am, just in time for a quick cuppa as I watched the Luton fans celebrating their penalty success over Brighton in the Southern Area Final on Sky Sports News.

They obviously don't realise our name is already on the trophy this year...