Millers and Shrews Share Spoils

Rotherham United failed to capitalise on an early lead this afternoon at a Don Valley Stadium that was bathed in sunshine.

The Millers came out the stronger and Lewis Grabban had the ball in the net on three minutes but it was ruled out for an earlier infringement. On ten minutes an attempted clearance from Carl Regan fell for Gareth Evans who burst down the left and unleashed a shot that flew high and wide of the near post. A minute later Terry Gornell and Dale Tonge went for a fifty-fifty ball in the area ending with the Millers defender having to leave the field for stitches, leaving Rotherham down to ten men for ten minutes. Danny Schofield then had the Millers fans on their feet when his shot appeared to go into the back of the net but actually hit the side netting. Two minutes later the Millers took the lead when Lewis Grabban picked up the ball inside the visitors half, looked up and hit an unstoppable shot from thirty yards out that flew into the top corner of the net. A few minutes later the lively Evans beat his man and crossed for Grabban but the strikers shot was well saved by Chris Neal in Town's goal. Neal was in the action soon afterwards when he did well to make a good save from Evans from the edge of the box and then again on forty minutes when Grabban went past Jermaine Grandison With two minutes to go before half-time and completely against the run of play, the visitors scored. A dubious free-kick was awarded and Mark Wright took it, it was headed into the area by Marvin Morgan and Shane Cansdell-Sherriff , on for Regan, was on hand to put it into the bottom corner of the net.

The second half started slowly with the first shot of the game being from Marcus Marshall whose curling shot went over the bar. The Shrews had the ball in the net again but the flag had been raised before Morgan put the ball past Andy Warrington for offside. The game became dull with only substitutions being made brought any response from the crowd. In the final seven minutes Chris Holroyd, on for Jason Taylor, found Evans with just the 'keeper to beat but the former Bradford player completely missed his shot and the move led to nothing. A few minutes later Holroyd had a shot of his own but it sailed harmlessly over the bar and in the final minutes of the match James Collins, on for Gornell, hit a shot straight into Andy Warrington's arms.

Well, we didn't lose.
Actually, I thought we were much the better side in the first half and, as it was pointed out to me at the end of the game, we'd probably have taken a point from this game before it started.

Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco