Rotherham United have the mindset without the quality, Middlesbrough FC are the other way around

The Championship‘s bottom side only have 19 points this season, but have taken one each off Southampton, Leeds United and Ipswich Town, plus three from Coventry City and Norwich City.

Saturday's 1-1 draw took it to four from Middlesbrough.

The table suggests Boro do not belong in that company – certainly not the first three – but they should.

On Tuesday they are the underdogs, hoping to frustrate Chelsea’s crowd as much as Rotherham did theirs with time-wasting, gamesmanship and tactical fouls but also sturdy defending and good counter-attacking. Avoid defeat and the prize is a Wembley League Cup final.

In the Championship they usually need a different mindset.

Even in the grip of injuries – added to when Isaiah Jones was pushed out of the game – their team-sheet oozed quality.

Rotherham’s two most expensive signings – Sam Nombe and Christ Tiehi – cost less combined than Boro paid for Finn Azaz this month. In the past Boro picked off Dan Barlaser and Matt Crooks. Sam Greenwood was in Sunderland and Arsenal's academies before Leeds United bought him, then loaned him out.

Morgan Rogers' is drawing big bids from Aston Villa and the backheel for Marcus Forss to equalise hinted at why.

Then add the Championship nous of Luke Ayling and Matt Clarke to academy products Hayden Hackney and Dale Fry.

A squad of that calibre should not be 11th in the Championship but an inability to make their dominance count showed why it is.

Clarke missed two good headed chances at first-half corners, but putting chances away is other people's jobs and with the exception of Forss, they did not do it.

They were, however, facing a side who love it when the odds are stacked against them.

Boro have not just thrown Steve Gibson's millions onto the field. Their Rockliffe training base is a wonderful place to hone footballers.

"We're not blessed with facilities where we can go indoors or make use of undersoil heating," explained Millers manager Leam Richardson. "So we've had to adapt.

"We've had to learn in different ways such as more analytical work, in the gym etc. We had to just walk through a lot on astroturf because we have a lot of senior players who aren't favourable for the astroturf."

It worked.

October's 1-1 at Southampton had been an outlier in their season but the new manager seems to at last be making them enjoy taking on the big guns away as much as they always have at the New York Stadium.

"So they should in these environments against these coaches and players," argued Richardson. "It's a fantastic arena to play in and they should relish it."

Only really off the back foot for the opening 15 second-half minutes when they got substitute wing-back Peter Kioso higher up the pitch, Rotherham spent most of the game defending. But they enjoy that too.

“I love defending,” smiled Sebastian Revan, on loan from Aston Villa. “I’m not a natural centre-back but I’m still a left-back so the first point of protocol is to defend, the attacking stuff comes later. It can cost you games if you don’t defend.”

It is not as commonplace an attitude amongst modern full-backs as you might hope.

What did Boro have to show for 70 per cent possession? Two first-half Viktor Johansson saves – from Greenwood and Forss – and the 82nd-minute equaliser.

They ought to have had a first-half penalty when Kioso pulled down Greenwood and were unlucky Crooks, on his 30th birthday, was flagged offside for trying to help a stoppage-time cross on which Josh Coburn netted, but they do not help themselves enough.

Greenwood pressed well and made good runs from centre-forward but only really in the first half, Forss played good passes when Jones' hamstring appeared to go from under him after a Jordan Hugill shove, and the goal was glorious.

But it was nowhere near enough.

"That's two games against them now and we've come away with one point which is a little bit difficult to understand," said Carrick, but his side's lack of cutting edge this season is a well-worn narrative.

Defending brilliantly will not suffice for Rotherham, eight points adrift of safety. Moments of quality are needed too.

They found one in the 59th minute, Jamie Lindsay scrapping to win a throw-in and feeding Hugill, who gave Cafu enough thinking time to make a hash of it. He stayed ice cool.

Rotherham have the mindset to do what they need to this season, but perhaps not enough of that quality. For Boro it might be the opposite.

Middlesbrough: Glover; Ayling, Fry, Clarke, Engel; Barlaser (O'Brien 81), Hackney; I Jones (Forss 20), Rogers, Azaz (Crooks 68); Greenwood (Coburn 81). Unused substitutes: van den Berg, Gilbert, McNair, J Jones, McCabe.

Rotherham United: Johansson; Peltier, Odoffin, Morrison, Revan, Bramall (Kioso 36); Tiehi, Clucas; Lindsay (Rathbone 75), Cafu (Nombe 86); Hugill (Eaves 75). Unused substitutes: Kelly, Bola, Phillips, Appiah, McGuckin.

Referee: D Bond (Lancashire).