Tuesday night in South Yorkshire, where an archaic culture has been cleverly preserved since Queen Victoria's reign, separated from God's own county by the Pennine Wall. Not for the faint hearted. The M6 did its best to prevent any sort of pre-match liquid refreshment for those well-known connoisseurs of the teabag, Messrs Wood and Benyon. We almost had to make do with water, but not quite! A good parking space near an excellent pub and the ground was masterminded. Don't ask where, I'm not saying.
The Rotherham football ground, for all who haven't been to Millmoor recently, is reminiscent of the corrugated iron sheds of the past, with 'stands' post Hillsborough complete with plastic bucket seats bolted to the old standing terrace at the away end. If you stand up and are pushed forward from behind, the middle of your shins acts as a fulcrum with the top of the seat and over you go. This is football ground safety in the year 2002!
The pitch resembled a lunar landscape lit by a Claret and Blue aky, and serenaded by 3,000 Clarets in the usual good humour. The Claret line-up was not unexpected. The Millers, with the ex-Clarets Mullin and Lee in the side, looked seriously up for the game, as the first quarter of the match proved.
The incidents came thick and fast in an open start, with first of all Alan Lee intwo2 minutes through on goal, where his shot was blocked by Marlene. Ian Moore screwed a good chance wide on five minutes when he should have scored, before Robins blazed over the bar from not far. IM was then bundled over illegally in the box by Swales, and Taylor took the kick (not with his head) as cool as a prized marrow, sending Pollitt the wrong way and the Clarets into the lead in the ninth minute. The lead lasted just as long as it takes to kick off again when Mullin – who else –was apparently tripped by Ball in the area, and the prolific Robins defeated Marlene. Just! Bit of a soft penalty this one, as even Ronnie Moore admitted.
The tempo then suddenly dropped to not a lot for pretty much the rest of the match. A Moore and Little had a few decent interchanges, and Taylor missed a fairly simple headed attempt, but the threat came mainly from Rotherham in the wings. Westy nearly scored for us (his first?) with an excellent chance, which was well blocked. Otherwise, not a lot to report.
Half time at last, and a chance to view the Gents, which appeared to have been summarily destroyed by Semtex, but were still in use. Onwards to the bistro where I was served Hot Dog, Sauce de L'Eau from the Menu Gastronomique, which was simply bursting with flavour, served in the house style on a paper plate. It was washed down with copious quantities of non-vintage Nescafe Noir, its distinctive bouquet unsullied by milk. At £3+ with tip a veritable bargain. No wonder people come back time after time. The whole exercise required a major sense of humour by-pass.
The second half was pretty even with fewer real chances, but Rotherham overall had the majority of possession. Alan Moore had probably the best chance for us, but it was Mullin who missed the sitter of the night – unmarked in front of goal with only Marlene to beat. Missed completely. Taylor also missed a sitter, when a layoff to the unmarked Blake looked the obvious option, and Branch headed just over the bar after more good work from A Moore.
So, the verdict on what is always a tough fixture for us. (When did we last win here?) Well, the Millers were well motivated, and kept us under pressure with a fairly limited team. There were chances on both sides to win the match. Not sure of the merit of their penalty, but it looked a poor decision to me, probably 'evening' things up. Four bookings again, which leaves us pretty much at the bottom of the fair play league and looking at more suspensions, but really down to yet more refereeing madness. All in all, a point each was fair, in a pretty even game reflected in the match statistics, but one which lacked quality.
Finally in thought for the day, 'A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking'. The end.
Scorers: Taylor (9 pen) / Robins (11 pen).
Referee: M J Brandwood of Lichfield.
Attendance: 9,021.
Hego's Man of the Match: Alan Moore.
A tale of two penalties