Rotherham United 4 Bradford City 0: Millers star Evans exacts retribution on Bantams

Moments earlier, the 24-year-old had fired an unstoppable shot past Bradford City goalkeeper Matt Duke to double the Millers’ advantage with barely a quarter of an eagerly anticipated derby encounter gone.

A sense of joy, therefore, was to be expected. But Evans opting to run almost the entire length of the stand housing the Bradford hordes in a celebration that bordered on goading smacked of something deeper.

Sure enough, Rotherham’s two-goal hero – his second strike came near the end of what turned out to be a comfortable win for the hosts – revealed afterwards how scoring against the Bantams had helped settle a couple of personal demons.

“The (first) goal did mean a lot to me,” said Evans, who had been subjected to cries of ‘City reject’ from the travelling fans before setting United on their way to victory.

“I don’t really want to say too much but, as everyone knows, it was my old club and I had a bad time in my second year there.”

Evans’s celebration was, however, not only rooted in that miserable 2010-11 with City but also his return to Valley Parade last season with Rotherham when his involvement was ended after just 12 minutes courtesy of a crude challenge by Michael Flynn.

The former Macclesfield striker, who was the subject of an unsuccessful bid from a Championship club before last Friday’s transfer deadline, added: “To score was enjoyable, as I felt like I was singled out when we went to Valley Parade last season.

“I ended up being out for three or four months after that game. I only lasted a few minutes so I was keen to start (against Bradford this season). Thankfully, the gaffer gave me that opportunity and to score made it even better.

“The goals dried up for me after I got injured at Bradford (in November, 2011 when the Millers won 3-2) so that was all the more reason why I enjoyed scoring that bit more.”

Evans’s pleasure at notching twice against his former club was, come full-time, matched by the joy felt by his Millers’ team-mates after a job well done.

Not only had United scored four goals of the highest quality but, in taming a Bradford attack that had netted seven times in the previous week and knocked Championship side Watford out of the Capital One Cup, they had also laid down a genuine marker in the promotion race.

Certainly, it is hard to envisage any visiting team looking forward with any glee to a trip to the New York Stadium this term.

Steve Evans’s side already have that look of a team destined to achieve big things in the coming months. And that is without the out-of-contract former Championship defender that the United manager expects to sign today or the two loanees he wants to add to his squad when the window opens later this week.

The tone was set for a sparkling display inside 53 seconds when Michael O’Connor unleashed a thunderbolt from 35 yards that flew past Duke’s despairing dive.

A second goal followed on 24 minutes courtesy of a drilled strike from Evans that led to any belief City had shown in their own attacking endeavours visibly ebbing away.

Rotherham ruthlessly took advantage as Ben Pringle added another with a 25-yard strike that again gave the badly exposed Duke little hope in the visitors’ goal.

Three goals down, Bradford’s best hope was damage limitation as Phil Parkinson sacrificed Zavon Hines, one of two out and out wingers in a formation that bordered on 4-2-4 at times, at the interval to bring on Will Atkinson.

As a result, City were much more compact after the break. United, though, would not be denied a fourth goal, which arrived courtesy of another long-range effort from Evans that, this time, beat Duke at his near post.

It capped a remarkable 24 hours for the former Bradford striker, whom his manager admits to having kept in the dark about last Friday’s deadline-day interest from the Championship.

“I didn’t tell him,” admitted Steve Evans. “He can read it in the ’papers. It is a need to know basis.

“I spoke to the chairman (Tony Stewart about the bid) and he said if I wanted to reinvest that money, then fine. He leaves the team to me.

“But I wanted Gareth here. I have a real confidence in him and we saw against Bradford that he is a real handful.

“Anyway, if you are Gareth Evans, would you prefer to be at a Championship club that struggles or somewhere where you play in front of that (crowd) every week?”

As for Bradford, the key is how they react to an afternoon so woeful that captain Gary Jones issued an apology to the fans.

He said: “In all departments, we were second best and got what we deserved. The first goal came as a massive shock. And after that, we ended up chasing the game for 90 minutes.

“We didn’t need to do that because there was so long left. They hit us on the counter-attack twice in the first half.

“It wasn’t good enough. I apologise to our supporters for that.”