Birmingham 0 Rotherham Utd 2: Millers will continue to rise, claims Evans

Rotherham striker Matt Derbyshire salutes his goal against Birmingham, where he spent a spell on loan (Picture: James Brailsford).

Evans, subjected to criticism following a poor start to the season, was delighted with the way Rotherham accomplished their first back-to-back wins in 18 months and their first victory over the Blues since 1989.

The Millers’ chief was pleased when Matt Derbyshire opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with a snappy cross-shot to pave the way to their first away win since March.

The goal by their former player appeared to frustrate Birmingham and they lacked their usual firepower to get back into the game against a Rotherham defence which found some steel to put up a barrier the home side failed to penetrate.

Rotherham sealed the points to take them off the bottom of the table when Tony Andreu, on loan from Norwich, fired in a low angled shot in the 64th minute.

Evans said: “We set the tone in the first minute and it was all about us. We controlled the game from start to finish.

“We made a bad start to the season with a 4-1 opening-day defeat to MK Dons. We now have our best players back and this has been shown in our last two games.

“Too many people wrote us off after a bad start and it was disappointing to see people say we are going to be relegated.

“But we are going to get this criticism as we are a small club in the Championship. We have to take this performance into our next game against Burnley. To win here is a great day for us.”

Gary Rowett, Birmingham’s manager, admitted it was “mentally disappointing”.

He added: “Firstly, you have to congratulate Rotherham for doing an excellent job away from home.

“Secondly, did Tuesday night at Aston Villa expend a lot of energy and did it take a little away from the players in terms of the zip and verve we play?

“When you see us playing really well we break with some real pace and power. We stopped doing that against Rotherham.

“We are in a run of having to play seven games in a 21-day spell, but we cannot use that as an excuse.”

Birmingham City: Kuszczak, Caddis, Morrison, Spector, Grounds, Gleeson, Kieftenbeld (Shinnie 61), Cotterill (Brock-Madsen 73), Toral (Maghoma 62), Gray, Donaldson. Unused substitutes: Legzdins, Robinson, Soloman-Otabor, Davis.

Rotherham United: Camp, Buxton, Rawson, Collins, Mattock, Smallwood, Odjidja-Ofoe, Newell, Andreu (Grant Ward 81), Derbyshire (Maguire 89), Clarke-Harris (Danny Ward 72). Unused substitutes: Broadfoot, Ledesma, Halford, Collin.

Referee: A Woolmer (Northamptonshire).

Man of the match: Matt Derbyshire.