Ambitious Rotherham United target direct route back - season review

The Millers manager, usually prompt in his dealings with the press after games, emerged well over an hour after the final whistle of his side’s derby loss at Doncaster Rovers and delivered an uncharacteristically sombre message following a frank dressing room post-mortem behind locked doors.

Warne candidly said: “I won’t be their teacher for long if we keep throwing away leads or cannot see out games.”

His mood was hardly improved after an away defeat at Bristol Rovers exactly three weeks later at the end of September.

Thankfully, Warne is entitled to be feeling a fair bit better about things these days with the Millers occupying a top-two slot.

Not that it has been a straightforward ride, despite what the club’s post-Christmas results have showed.

If United do make it back to the second tier, the overall sense of achievement will probably eclipse the feeling of 2017-18 for a number of reasons.

Two seasons ago, Rotherham flew under the radar somewhat. This season, they were the hunted as opposed to the hunter in a division that included a quartet of former Premier League clubs in Sunderland, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth and Coventry City.

If supporters of those aforementioned clubs were asked back in the summer which team would constitute the biggest threat to their promotion hopes in 2019-20, the realists would have probably said Rotherham.

A look at the current league table would suggest they were right, with the Millers having shown that they possess a strong jaw.

Despite Warne’s early-season disappointments, he was also wise to the notion that 2019-20 was perhaps always destined to be a slow-burner.

Shorn of two big players and characters from last season in captain Will Vaulks and Semi Ajayi, who moved on for significant fees in the summer, Warne was effectively entrusted with building a new side also without the presence of four wingers who also left in the close season.

Despite those autumnal jolts at the Keepmoat Stadium and the Memorial Stadium, it was ultimately away form which got the season back on an upward trajectory for the Millers, with the arrival of Jake Hastie and Chiedozie Ogbene, in particular, easing their quandary on the flanks.

By Christmas, only Ipswich Town had a better record on their travels in League One than the Millers, who produced some headline-grabbing performances on the road.

A seemingly impregnable looking Ipswich were consummately beaten 2-0 at Portman Road in October 23 – arguably the Suffolk outfit have never been the same since – and the Millers followed that up with a resounding 3-0 victory at Steve Evans’s Gillingham on November 2.

The spectacular then arrived by way of stunning come-from-behind wins in league and cup at MK Dons and Solihull Moors.

Unfortunately, there was another significant and wholly different story in the Millers pre-Christmas tale.

Only two League One sides had taken fewer points at home than Warne’s side up to the festive season – and it was remedying that issue which hardened their promotion credentials.

The elephant in the room’ of home form was bulldozed by way of five successive league wins for the Millers, whose last defeat in front of their own supporters arrived back on December 9.

With away statistics remaining imposing – with wins of emotion and drama arriving against Oxford United, Lincoln City and Accrington – promotion talk was simply inescapable.

Victory at Oxford on January 25 came on a day when the Millers’ players found themselves locked out of the Kassam Stadium when they first arrived on that Saturday.

When they eventually got in, some boastful comments in the programme stating that the U’s were the best side in the division were duly noted by the ever-sharp Warne, whose side ended the day at the top of League One.

The moving scenes at the final whistle when Millers supporters sang the name of assistant Richard Barker, in his first match back at work following the sad passing of his brother Chris, added to the poignancy of the day.

There was also a tide of emotion in the victory at Sincil Bank on February 7 when midfielder Matt Crooks looked to the heavens and dedicated his winner to his best mate Jordan Sinnott – who had tragically died 13 days earlier.

An imposing run of winter form drew parallels with the club’s relentless 14-match unbeaten run from early December to early March which transformed their 2017-18 season, one which ended in Wembley glory.

Rotherham, when the season hopefully resumes, would much prefer the straightforward route to promotion this time around.

If anyone is in any doubt, they should speak to Millers captain Richard Wood.

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