Rotherham United 0 Peterborough United 1: Millers are making rapid strides towards season to remember

The scoreline suggests they fell short, but the performance offered a completely different perspective as the Millers outplayed a team Evans hailed before and after as title-winning material.

The reality is somewhere in the middle. Rotherham lack the nous and the good fortune to be a team battling for automatic promotion from the third tier, but just nine games since gaining ascension from League Two they look more assured in their new surroundings with each passing week.

Evans lauded this performance as his team’s best of the season, eclipsing the efforts that accounted for both Sheffield clubs.

They will certainly play a lot worse than this and win.

Peterborough were far from their best and, in the grand tradition of the Ferguson family, were treated to a blast from the hairdryer at half-time from manager Darren.

Whatever Ferguson junior said worked because during a brief spell after the break when Posh finally looked like the side that were relegated from the Championship with a record haul of 55 points, they won the game.

The goal was fortuitous. Kari Arnason was adjudged to have handled Grant McCann’s corner, though photographic evidence afterwards showed Tyrone Barnett pushing the Iceland international as the two climbed to meet the ball.

McCann’s penalty was the only shot the visitors had on target. At the other end, Rotherham laid siege to Robert Olejnik’s goal.

Ben Pringle was at the heart of all that was good about Rotherham’s attacking play, but the outstanding player in a team of committed individuals was Rob Milsom.

The former Fulham academy player patrolled the space in front of the back four, keeping Peterborough’s roaming Ipswich loanee Paul Taylor as quiet as possible before breaking forward with gusto whenever the opportunity arose.

One of Evans’s summer signings to supplement a squad he always maintained was good enough for the top end of League One, the 26-year-old is getting stronger with each game.

“I think I can do more in games, I’m looking to work as hard as I can and I can improve all aspects of my game,” said Milsom, who signed for Fulham as a 12-year-old, when the first-team manager was French pass master Jean 
Tigana.

“I’ve got a platform to do well here and, hopefully, I can go from strength to strength because I’m enjoying it here.

“Under Jean at Fulham, everything was pass, pass, pass, even in the juniors. It’s not like that all the time in League One, it’s about getting the balance right and I’m still trying to learn that.”

Once he does, the Millers will have a real asset to sit in midfield and allow Pringle and Lee Frecklington to roam.

Frecklington, a former Peterborough player, was a largely subdued figure against his former employers, with Pringle the creator-in-chief.

Twice Pringle hit crisp drives that flashed wide and the best chance of the first half fell to Daniel Nardiello after Milsom’s powerful strike was beaten away by Olejnik, but Nardiello was off target.

Before the break a corner from Pringle fell to the feet of right-back Mark Bradley, whose close-range shot was blocked on the line.

Two more glorious chances in the six-yard box fell to Bradley, both of which ended up over the bar.

How the majority of the 9,717 at the New York would have wished they had fallen to Nardiello or tireless strike partner Alex Revell.

Joe Skarz, the left-back, also had a golden chance at the back post but hit the side-netting.

By stoppage-time Evans had four strikers on the field with Matt Tubbs and new loan signing Tom Eaves introduced from the bench.

Goalkeeper Scott Shearer – feeling like the most under-employed man in Rotherham – even tried to get in on the act at corners, but to no avail.

“It’s difficult to take,” said Milsom, who along with his team-mates was applauded off the field.

“We dominated from start to finish. They’re a good side, but the way we put them under pressure shows we’re a good side as well.

“We knew before the game that we can compete against anyone. What we’ve shown is that we’re good enough to dominate any side.”

Evans was angry at referee Craig Sarginson for not seeing the push by Barnett, and also by the amount of stoppage time that was played, thinking five minutes was insufficient.

For once, a Ferguson wanted no stoppage time.

But those decisions aside, Rotherham still made a point even if they did not win one.

Evans, whose side tasted defeat in a league game for the first time since April 6, said: “We’re disappointed and so you should be when you don’t win a football match.

“But we can be very positive and very proud of our team’s performance.

“We were full of energy, we opened them up time after time.

“You always pay the price if you don’t take your chances but if the benchmark in this division is 
Peterborough United then we have to say we’re on the right course, and there’s a lot to be pleased about.

“If we play like that every game then we’ll have a season to remember.

“We’re making rapid steps forwards and, remember, we’re still adapting to life in League One.”

Rotherham United: Shearer; Bradley, Morgan, Arnason, Skarz (Eaves 85); Agard (Tubbs 78), Frecklington, Milsom, Pringle; Revell, Nardiello. Unused substitutes: Collin, Brindley, Mills,Tidser, Rowe.

Peterborough United: Olejnik; Alcock, Rowe, Zakuani, Bostwick; Payne, McCann, Swanson (Kearns 63), Taylor (Newell 77); Assombalonga, Barnett. Unused substitutes: Day, Ntlhe, Brisley, Ferdinand, Mendez-Laing.

Referee: C Sarginson (Staffordshire).