Rotherham United 0 Middlesbrough 3: Millers erupt over Bowery red card as Boro march on in style

Instead of a belated birthday present – he turned 52 on Thursday – the Scot received the equivalent of a custard pie in the face from officials.

It was an occasion when little if anything went right for his Rotherham United side on a ‘bad day at the office’ that every manager suffers from time to time.

In contrast, Aitor Karanka – once he had passed on a message to the dressing room to turn the music off before starting his post-match press conference – was able to reflect upon his Boro side hitting all the right notes, albeit with a bit of help along the way.

Not that the Teesside club really needed it, but it represented a huge talking point all the same with substitute Jordan Bowery’s dismissal – just over three minutes after coming on – for flicking out a boot at George Friend making the Millers erupt.

Shocking, awful, woeful, disgraceful and abject were the words Evans used to describe the decision. Replays indeed showed the incident to be innocuous, and the Millers are to appeal.

But what was not in dispute is that the visitors fully deserved victory; it should not be ignored that they were 2-0 up by the time Bowery saw red. Boro possessed the verve, all right.

Having gifted Boro an early goal on eight minutes when Paul Green was dispossessed in the area by Patrick Bamford, who turned neatly before firing past Adam Collin, the Millers were already facing a mini-crisis when Yanic Wildschut hit a splendid second 11 minutes later.

The subsequent exit of Alex Revell, groggy following a head injury, added to their pains before Bowery’s red, which ended the game as a meaningful contest.

To their credit, the Millers regrouped at the break and if substitute Matt Derbyshire had fired home instead of hitting a post when clear on goal seven minutes from time, things may just have got interesting.

But a smart late third from fellow replacement Lee Tomlin – the ‘naughty wee rascal’ whom Evans tried to sign in his Crawley days – gilded a near-perfect away day for the upwardly-mobile visitors, who extended their unbeaten run against the Millers to nine games.

For the hosts, unbeaten in five ahead of the game, it was a tough afternoon, disregarding the whys and wherefores of Bowery’s red, something Green acknowledged. He said: “Even if you have been in the Championship a long time, you are going to have days like that. You have just got to show a great reaction in the next game.

“Against a good Middlesbrough side, we have gifted them a goal – it was through me, personally, when I should have cleared it. It was a sloppy goal and we got punished for it and we were on the back foot then.”

On Bowery’s red card, he added: “Jordan is not like that and he wouldn’t just lash out.

“I think he has tried to get his foot out of the way and the officials have seen it the wrong way and it has killed the game off really with us being 2-0 down at that point.”

On their previous visit to Rotherham for a league fixture, way back in October 1986 at the old Millmoor ground across the way, Boro fans enjoyed a similar party en route to a thumping 4-1 win in a season which saw Bruce Rioch’s coltish side go up to the old Second Division as runners-up to champions Bournemouth.

Just as on that autumnal day many moons ago, so Boro’s big travelling contingent are starting to harbour hopes of promotion in the present, with the Cherries again in similar proximity.

While Evans alluded to Boro slipping under the radar in contrast to several other sides at the top, full-back Friend admits that expectation is growing back in the north east.

He said: “We don’t feel like we are under the radar, it’s impossible to live on Teesside and be that when it comes to Boro. The fans have got high expectations and rightly so. But maybe we can be a little bit of an underdog though.

“I think there is a lot of pressure on Derby with them making the play-off final last year and the same for the clubs who have come down from the Premier League.”

Offering his take on Bowery’s dismissal, Friend added: “I felt a kick on my arm.

“I didn’t make a big deal of it; that is not really my style. I could have helped the referee out a bit if I did roll around on the floor, but the linesman was right there and it was right in front of our bench and they were convinced it was a red.

“It was a kick, sometimes they get missed.

“I wouldn’t have complained too much if he hadn’t been sent off, but you cannot kick someone like that can you?”

Rotherham United: Collin; Richardson, Morgan, Arnason, Broadfoot; Taylor (Smallwood 45), Green, Frecklington, Pringle (Derbyshire 45); Revell (Bowery 26), Clarke-Harris. Unused substitutes: Loach, Hall, Milsom, Swift.

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos; Nsue, Ayala, Gibson, Friend (Husband 88); Wildschut, Clayton, Leadbitter, Reach; Kike (Tomlin 60), Bamford (Vossen 73). Unused substitutes: Mejias, Veljkovic, Whitehead, Fredericks.

Referee: M Russell (Herts).