Blackburn Rovers 2 Rotherham United 1 - Millers punished by late, late goal

Rovers’ leading man had endured a quiet evening but was alert to react quickly in the final minute of injury time to slam home from close range.

It looked like being a frustrating evening for the home side, who were out of sorts and fell behind through a well-taken strike in the 61st minute through Michael Smith, which the visitors deserved on the balance of play.

Harvey Elliott’s second goal in as many games restored parity with 10 minutes to go but a grandstand finish never looked on the cards until Armstrong’s late, late show – his 16th goal of the season in all competitions.

The first half was not easy on the eye as neither side imposed themselves.

The best chance of the half fell to Rotherham in the 16th minute when Matthew Olosunde found space on the right and his cross found Smith but the forward completely missed the target from close range.

The second period saw Armstrong and Kyle Vassell both sending efforts off target, but it was the Millers who made the breakthrough with their first shot on target.

Smith atoned for his earlier miss as he latched onto a flick from Matt Crooks and swept the ball into the bottom-left corner from 12 yards for his third goal of the season.

Crooks missed a glorious chance soon after when he fired wide with the goal at his mercy.

That miss proved costly as Rovers equalised 10 minutes from time when Armstrong’s perfectly-weighted pass found Elliott and he showed superb composure to gather the ball before hammering beyond Johansson from 12 yards.

Substitute Freddie Ladapo headed into the side netting for Rotherham and Rovers made them pay at the death when a long ball was nodded across the box by Ayala and Armstrong showed the instincts of a predator to react and hammer home the winner.

Blackburn: Kaminski, Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala, Douglas (Bell 59), Buckley (Holtby 68), Johnson (Trybull 68), Rothwell (Downing 60), Elliott, Armstrong, Gallagher (Dolan 89). Unused substitutes: Lyons, Chapman, Pears, Carter.

Rotherham: Johansson, Ihiekwe, Wood, Angus MacDonald, Olosunde, Barlaser (Jones 90), Lindsay, Crooks, Wiles (Harding 71), Vassell (Ladapo 71), Smith (Hirst 70). Unused substitutes: Thompson, Miller, Blackman, Jozefzoon.

Referee: J Gillett (Australia).

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