Bradford City v Rotherham United: Time for Millers to start defeating promotion rivals '“ Barker

ROTHERHAM UNITED assistant-manager Richie Barker believes that another barometer of the Millers' progress is likely to be gauged at Valley Parade today.
Kieffer Moore of Rotherham is rated as 50-50 for the trip to Bradford (Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage)Kieffer Moore of Rotherham is rated as 50-50 for the trip to Bradford (Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage)
Kieffer Moore of Rotherham is rated as 50-50 for the trip to Bradford (Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage)

A tough baptism to League One life has seen Rotherham face the likes of Fleetwood, Peterborough, Charlton and Portsmouth already, preceding today’s derby.

So far, the Millers have yet to prevail against sides in the top-six reckoning, something that Barker hopes will change today.

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He said: “By the time we have played Bradford, we will probably have played four or five of the top six.

“We came away with no points from games with Peterborough, Fleetwood and Charlton and all those are predominantly in the play-off positions. But certainly in terms of climbing the table, it would be nice to be able to pick something up against a team we see as one of our top-six rivals.”

Having ended their epic search for an away success in their last league match on their travels at Portsmouth, the Millers are entitled to a spot of relief, but Barker insists that their approach will stay the same.

He added: “It certainly will not change our approach. The one thing that we always do is go out and try and win every game.

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“Certainly since I have been here, we have never gone out going: ‘this is what we are going to do, we are going to try and sustain a draw.’

“I could sit here and say that there is a lot less pressure because we have won an away game. But now we have won an away game, we are not the sort of team who will settle for just turning up and seeing how we get on.

“We are well aware of the 
three points and keeping the momentum, but there is a derby that we have been talking about as well.

“But hopefully it is nice to stop people talking about it (run without an away win) now.”