Hartlepool United 2 Rotherham United 2: Millers reach Wembley final after 5-4 penalty shootout win

Even the penalty shoot-out they won 5-4 went into sudden death.

“We nicked it on the flip of a coin,” manager Paul Warne admitted afterwards.

The League One title chasers might have been facing League Two opposition in the semi-finals of the Football League Trophy but that had been the equation 24 hours earlier, and the lower division side came through that one. This time they fell short but only by the smallest of margins.

Never having been to Wembley before and with their ground packed for a competition no one takes much notice of until the famous arch comes into view, Hartlepool United made Rotherham fight for everything they got in a bruising encounter. Warne had to wheel out far more of his big guns than he would have wanted to and lost one, Jamie Lindsay, to the shoulder injury he brought into the game. Others will be feeling sore this morning.

In the end, though, they persevered, Viktor Johansson saving Luke Molyneux’s penalty only for Ben Killip to do the same with the next one, from Ben Wiles.

It was decided by Tom Crawford’s miss, followed by a cool Mickel Miller finish.

Rotherham started the game like the League One side, but in this era where players get rotated rather than dropped, cup ties often come down to who wants it more and for much of the first half that was the hosts. The next 45 were a pure slugfest, Rotherham equalising twice, both sides missing good chances to win it and seeing the game go to a dreaded shoot-out as the Millers piled on the pressure to try and avoid it.

The man on the tannoy was not kidding when he played That’s Entertainment at full-time.

The Millers looked hungry enough coming out of the blocks, two good chances falling to Tolaji Bola, one of those with a more regular shirt to win.

Michael Smith, the last man standing up front, got the ball wide and put it over in the fourth minute for an effort the wing-back guided at Killip. Two minutes later Jordi Osei-Tutu laid the ball back for Dan Barlaser to loft a deep ball Bola put wide.

But from there the hosts were inspired by their first full house for decades and more surprisingly, the visitors seemed to shrink.

Molyneux’s twist and turn near the byline to force a Johansson save after 12 minutes was the spark, but Richard Wood’s indiscipline really fired them.

The centre-back and captain is the old head of the team but it was not very clever to stand his ground, poke out his elbow and let Tom Crawdford run into it. Or perhaps it was as Robert Madley gave him the benefit of the doubt, and a yellow card.

Only six minutes later Wood pulled back Molyneux for what might have been a first yellow card, but was never going to be a second. It cost him anyway, the free-kick nicely finished by Joe Grey.

A caution was probably right for the fit-again Rarmani Edmonds-Green given how far out Omar Bogle was when the striker was cynically hauled down chasing the loose ball from a Ben Wiles tackle. It was no surprise to see Wood come off at half-time. Rotherham looked to have responded to whatever Warne said at the break, Smith heading in a Dan Barlaser free-kick almost immediately but Hartlepool refused to go away, Edmonds-Green only able to touch Molyneux’s finish into the net.

Chiedozie Ogbene, another big-hitter from the bench, produced a beautiful cross for Smith’s second. Johansson made an excellent save from Molyneux, but Crawford should have given him no chance when former Doncaster Rovers striker Bogle brilliantly turned Ihiekwe.

Smith put a hat-trick chance wide and when Killip saved from Ogbene, the loose ball was just out of his reach.

When Edmonds-Green’s back header caused defensive confusion in stoppage time Bogle let the Millers off the hook, then Killip made an outstanding save from Ihiekwe.

Hartlepool United: Killip; Sterry, Byrne, Odusina, Ferguson; Featherstone, Crawford, Shelton, Molyneux; Bogle, Grey (Carver 85). Unused substitutes: Bilokapic, Francis-Angol, Liddle, Smith, Holohan, Fletcher.

Rotherham United: Johansson; Edmonds-Green, Wood (Ihiekwe 46), MacDonald; Osei-Tutu (Ferguson 90), Barlaser, Lindsay (Miller 34), Odoffin (Rathbone 46), Bola (Ogbene 61); Wiles; Smith. Unused substitutes: Vickers, Mattock.

Referee: R Madley (Huddersfield).