Rotherham 1 Norwich 1: Bowery off the bench to lay down marker for survival

MAYBE someone is looking out for Rotherham United after all.
Jordan Bowery rises to score a late equalisef for Rotherham United at home to Norwich City (Picture: James Brailsford).Jordan Bowery rises to score a late equalisef for Rotherham United at home to Norwich City (Picture: James Brailsford).
Jordan Bowery rises to score a late equalisef for Rotherham United at home to Norwich City (Picture: James Brailsford).

On the ropes after sustaining a full upper-cut by way of a three-point deduction on Friday lunch-time, the Millers were in danger of dropping onto the canvas following another punishing blow just over 24 hours later.

But, as claimed in the prescient words of Steve Evans on Thursday morning, Rotherham United are never defeated.

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With five minutes to go on Saturday afternoon, inspiration was sought and the Millers found it.

Jordan Bowery rises to score a late equalisef for Rotherham United at home to Norwich City (Picture: James Brailsford).Jordan Bowery rises to score a late equalisef for Rotherham United at home to Norwich City (Picture: James Brailsford).
Jordan Bowery rises to score a late equalisef for Rotherham United at home to Norwich City (Picture: James Brailsford).

Jordan Bowery’s Rotherham career may not have hit great heights so far, but if Evans’s side clinch safety this week his weekend contribution will be remembered in the weeks and months to come.

Trailing 1-0 to 10-man Norwich City, who on the centenary of Anzac Day wore the equivalent of slouch hats and showed their digging qualities, the Millers’ efforts to chisel away to force a shaft of light looked doomed.

They reckoned without their own version of ‘super-sub’.

Bowery may not be flame-haired or speak with a Merseyside lilt like the original ‘super-sub’ David Fairclough, but much more of this and he will be deserving of the same moniker after his priceless 86th-minute leveller.

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The upshot is that the Millers, whose big relegation rivals Millwall drew 3-3 with Derby County in another pulsating weekend game, will be safe if they beat Reading at the NYS tomorrow.

Saturday was certainly a fitting first course.

Bowery said: “All my five goals have been off the bench so far. But as long as I am scoring, I am happy.

“They scored a great goal, but obviously with them being down to 10 men, we were going to have to try and push them and try and get that win. But a point, we will take that all day.

“It is a massive point. Derby did us a favour as well with Millwall. Obviously, if we’d got that win, it would have helped us even more. But a point is good enough.

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“We have got the advantage at the minute and, hopefully on Tuesday, we can get the three points and seal it.”

On the events of the previous day when the Millers were docked three points for fielding an ineligible player in Farrend Rawson in the Easter Monday win over Brighton, Bowery added: “Yes, it’s disappointing, obviously.

“But we knew even without the deduction we would have to go out and give a performance and try and get as many wins as we could.

“We just said we will go out there and do it for the fans. He (Evans) said, ‘Get it for yourself, you want to be in this league, you don’t want to be dropping down there (to League One). Keep going’. That was it really.”

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In its short history, the New York Stadium has already witnessed some epic contests and this one was right up there.

It may not quite have hit the heights of the last occasion when Norwich came to Rotherham for an infamous league game in January 2004 which ended 4-4, complete with a sending-off and a half-time punch-up in the tunnel, but there were a few similarities.

A player, this time a visiting one, was dismissed in the shape of ex-Miller Lewis Grabban, who received his marching orders 
after tangling with Craig Morgan on 26 minutes and appearing to aim a punch in his midriff.

A late leveller also arrived as it did in that eight-goal thriller at Millmoor, with the Millers being the ones to salvage something this time around.

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Bowery was positioned on the back post to head in a left-wing cross from fellow replacement Adam Hammill, with his late equaliser baling out a team-mate in the process.

Much of what Matt Derbyshire has touched has turned to gold so far this calendar year, but his contender for miss of the season on 75 minutes made a mockery of his predatory instincts in 2015.

The striker somehow contrived to fire wide of a gaping goal from a few yards out following a cross from Bowery and it was no wonder that Derbyshire was one of the first on the scene to applaud his team-mate after his relieving leveller.

Bowery added: “Matt said, ‘You have dug me out there and helped me out a bit’.

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“That’s what happens. You can’t score every time. He has done well in the second half of the season and scored a lot of goals and helped the team out.”

A first-half noteworthy for Grabban’s dismissal and a miss from 10 yards out from Danny Ward was followed by an at times breathless second period.

The Millers, who found themselves in the relegation zone at the interval courtesy of Millwall’s 3-1 half-time lead over Derby, played their full part but not before Norwich played the first telling card.

It arrived via a sublime 30-yard strike from substitute Gary Hooper on 59 minutes.

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However, the majesty of his goal-of-the-season contender will probably have been lost on Millers supporters. But just as Derby found a way back at the New Den so did Rotherham at New York Stadium, eventually, with Bowery revealing that many on the bench were checking on developments at Millwall and Wigan as the action unfolded.

He added: “Whenever someone went in to the toilet, they kept checking their phones to see what the scores were.

“We are confident. But nothing is over yet.

“We have got to stay confident and believe in ourselves and get those three points on Tuesday night.”