Rotherham United 3 Blackpool 0: Stunning team display sees Millers march into top ten

It came relatively early in his first full season in charge in 2017-18. With his side trailing 1-0 at Bloomfield Road going into the final quarter of that fixture in the run-up to Christmas 2017 and looking like extending their winless League One sequence to eight matches, Warne might have been envisaging getting a p45 as a Yuletide gift from chairman Tony Stewart.

A late double from Millers striker David Ball changed all that in fateful fashion. Rotherham and Warne did not look back.

The Rotherham chief is on rather more solid ground these days. His side aren’t in mid-table in League One anymore, they are in the Championship’s top 10. He will recall this game too.

As a team, the Millers are wonderfully greater than the sum of their parts, yet there is still stacks of individual talent.

One in home colours who Pool coveted in the close season in Dan Barlaser helped supply the breakthrough with a sweet cross on 34 minutes which simply begged to be attacked.

The finish would come from another of the Millers’ box-office contenders in Chiedozie Ogbene with a pin-point looping header. It should be noted that Richard Wood was involved, of course he was.

In the market for more goals after four already in a golden harvest this season, Wood latched onto Barlaser’s cross from the left and went for goal. His miscued attempt turned into an assist and Ogbene’s finish was ice-cool.

Ogbene was brilliant. Alongside his goal, he produced a fantastic defensive track-back to thwart a Blackpool counter when the game was in the melting pot. It showed what Rotherham are all about.

He would later hit the post, with substitute Georgie Kelly bagging the rebound as Pool were pulverised late on. It was the Irishman’s first Championship goal and made it 3-0.

Perhaps, the biggest cheer was reserved minutes earlier. A cross from another replacement in Tolaji Bola was netted from close in by Wes Harding for his maiden league strike for United on a night when contributions came from everywhere.

The fact that this was a well-contested affair between two under-the-radar sides in the first half was forgotten in the second period as Pool went the same way as Birmingham and Reading at the New York.

The visitors actually started well but it proved short-lived. Callum Connolly’s howitzer looked a problem for Viktor Johansson until it took a deflection and from the resultant corner, the Tangerines player glanced a header narrowly wide.

The Millers’ most threatening initial foray could also have easily ended in a goal. A Barlaser cross saw Grant Hall steam in at the back stick from ‘Wood range’, but his effort was off target.

Wood had to settle with an assist as opposed to a goal this time around, but there was consolation in yielding a hard-fought breakthrough for Ogbene. Pool posted a late warning with a rasping low drive from ex-Barnsley midfielder Kenny Dougall which flashed inches wide. The Millers applied pressure on the resumption. Blackpool rallied all too briefly.

Wiles’s low shot rattled the post. And then the fun truly began. The nights are drawing in. Rotherham continue to provide a warm glow.

Rotherham United: Johansson; Hall, Wood, Harding; Barlaser; Norton-Cuffy, Rathbone, Wiles, Bramall (Bola 63); Ogbene, Washington (Kelly 75). Unused substitutes: Vickers, McCart, High, Lindsay, Humphreys.

Blackpool: Grimshaw; Ekpiteta, R Williams; Thorniley; Gabriel, Dougall, Connolly (Patino 66), Thompson; Poveda (Lavery 57), Yates, Corbeanu. Unused substitutes: Maxwell, Husband. Carey, Hamilton, Wright.

Referee: M Salisbury (England).