Rotherham 4 Cheltenham 2: Cameron wings in to spark Millers on debut

The former Northampton Town youth product has been learning his craft in Aston Villa’s reserves, where Millers chief Evans was first alerted to his potential by former Villa Park manager Alex McLeish.

Evans was knocked back by current Villa chief Paul Lambert last month when he enquired about the left-sided winger, but finally got his man late last week.

The 19-year-old – a £35,000 signing as a 16-year-old from the Cobblers – was thrown in for his full debut against Cheltenham and had Evans drooling.

Fresh from a 5-0 drubbing at Dagenham and Redbridge, the last thing the Millers needed was to concede early, but they did just that as Keith Lowe netted in the first minute.

But Cameron crossed to set up the first of Daniel Nardiello’s two goals, Ben Pringle and Lee Frecklington scoring the others, and Zebroski adding a second for Cheltenham.

Cameron, who has joined on a youth loan until January 5, was a constant danger and showed appetite to defend. One 80-yard burst late in the game saw him race back to pinch the ball off Jermaine McGlashan and halt the visitors’ breakaway with the game at 3-2. It earned him a standing ovation and left his new manager impressed.

“I thought we had some really big performances, none more so than a young man who made his Football League debut,” said Evans.

“I have seen the kid many times in reserve team football, and we made a move to take him three or four weeks ago. The young man was training with Villa’s first team.

“Paul Lambert obviously wanted him around him. It took a couple of Glaswegian accent calls to Paul and I asked him for his help. There were a host of clubs interested in him.

“I thought at times he was special (against Cheltenham), at times naive, but that’s what you get with a 19-year-old kid. He’s the right type, he wanted to come, he called me himself and told me he wanted to come and play.

“When I told him Friday he was starting I had to prevent him from falling off the chair. I am delighted he played so well. You don’t get many chances to make a first impression and he took it.

“We are not going to over-rate the kid, but he is an exciting young talent.”

Evans was also delighted with his team’s response to their Dagenham horror show.

“I think there was a lot of character, a special performance,” said Evans, who saw Craig Morgan hobble off with an ankle injury which adds to Rotherham’s injury woes. The defender looks set to miss tomorrow’s visit of Wycombe Wanderers.

“I thought we played some special stuff in periods. It’s just a shame we took so long to get the fourth goal; our performance probably deserved us to win here comfortably.”

That stoppage-time fourth came from the impressive Frecklington, on loan from Peterborough, and ended an afternoon which had started so poorly for the hosts.

Cheltenham won a corner in the first minute. It was whipped in by Billy Jones and right-back Lowe ghosted in to sidefoot home.

Goalkeeper Andy Warrington’s first touch of the ball was picking it up from the back of his net, but opposite number Scott Brown suffered a similar fate three minutes later. Cameron delivered a teasing cross, which saw Alex Revell flattened by goalkeeper Brown, but the ball looped invitingly for Nardiello to head home.

Frecklington nearly scored on 18 minutes. A terrific driving run ended with a drilled effort which flashed just wide.

The Millers were in front two minutes later, midfielder Pringle chesting the ball down before firing low into the bottom corner.

Rotherham’s third goal owed everything to the defence-splitting ball from Morgan. The defender’s pass dissected the Cheltenham back four, to leave Nardiello to sidestep Alan Bennett before rolling the ball beyond Brown.

The visitors made it 3-2 – five goals in the opening 31 minutes – when McGlashan set-up Zebroski in front of goal.

Evans was forced into a midfield reshuffle just before half-time, when Morgan was replaced by Michael O’Connor and Jason Taylor dropped into the back four.

After a first-half goals feast, the second 45 minutes saw both defences tighten up.

Nardiello chipped over and Frecklington tumbled in the area but failed to win a penalty before forcing a good save from Brown.

Captain Ian Sharps produced a goal-saving block on Shaun Harrad before Frecklington grabbed the stoppage-time fourth.

Rotherham United: Warrington, Bradley, Sharps, Morgan (O’Connor 43), Morris, Pringle, Taylor, Frecklington, Cameron (Walker 90), Revell, Nardiello (Odejayi 84). Unused substitutes: Thompson, Evans, Rose, Rooney.

Cheltenham Town: Brown, Lowe, Jones, Bennett, Elliott, Carter, Pack, Penn (Goulding 59), McGlashan (Deering 80), Mohamed (Harrad 59), Zebroski. Unused substitutes: Roberts, Duffy, Andrew, Hanks.

Referee: D Sheldrake (Surrey).