Millers aim to get out of the blocks quicker

The only concern to assistant manager Paul Raynor is the slow start the Millers are making to games.

“It was a comfortable victory and we are delighted with three good points but we seemed to start sluggishly and maybe we need to think about the way we warm up because we’re certainly not coming out of the blocks,” he said.

“But to go a goal behind and come back to win shows the character we have in the team. We got a grip of the game, tucked away a penalty and after the crowd got behind us there was only going to be one winner for me after that.”

Oxford, who began the season with three straight wins, went ahead through Sean Rigg’s low left-foot shot after seven minutes through a crowd of players following a short corner.

Rotherham soon took control as Ben Pringle and Lionel Ainsworth struck the woodwork.

With regular penalty taker Daniel Nardiello on the bench, Michael O’Connor scored from the spot after Michael Raynes felled Kayode Odejayi.

O’Connor drilled in his second from 18 yards with 16 minutes remaining after being supplied by Odejayi.

A fantastic double save by Shearer denied Oxford an equaliser and Rotherham broke straight upfield from the eventual clearance through Ainsworth and Agard and Jason Taylor rounded off the win with a simple tap-in with two minutes to go.

Rotherham United: Shearer, Hunt, Sharps, Morgan, Harris, Ainsworth, Arnason, O’Connor (Bradley 90), Pringle (Taylor 84), Odejayi, Evans (Agard 57). Unused substitutes: Warrington, Mullins, Nardiello, Noble.

Oxford United: Brown, Raynes, Wright, Worley (Leven 63), Batt, Forster-Caskey (Constable 81), Cox, Capaldi, Craddock (Smalley 56), Potter, Rigg. Unused substitutes: Clarke, Heslop, O’Brien, Boateng.

Referee: G Salisbury (Lancashire).

Man of the match: Lionel Ainsworth.