Rotherham United 2 Aldershot 0: Relief all round as Millers deliver on promise

The mighty Millers, backed by a vociferous crowd at the splendid New York Stadium in the heart of the town, clinched promotion to League One as runners-up on Saturday with a victory over non-League bound Aldershot.

It was a memorable day for the town and people of Rotherham.

Amid all the celebrations – led exuberantly by their manager Steve Evans – it was hard not to feel that this might just be the start of something special for the South Yorkshire club, just as it had been the last time they gained ascension to the third tier.

That was 13 years ago, under club hero Ronnie Moore. Twelve months later and another runners-up finish saw Rotherham climb to within one rung of the Premier League.

For four years Rotherham punched above their weight in the second tier, before relegation precipitated an unravelling of finances, morale and belief.

But having been restored to the town centre by their benefactor and saviour Tony Stewart, in a stadium fit for the Championship, the Millers quite rightly are eyeing a return to those halcyon days.

And this promotion could be their most significant step.

League Two is a difficult division to get out of. They have thrown money at it, with Stewart backing his managers with budgets that would make some League One clubs blush.

But having overcome this first hurdle, to the delight of the majority of the 11,300 fans at the New York, Evans and his players have justified that investment and promise to make a town enormously proud.

One of the players who Evans and Stewart lured to Rotherham on the pretext of them being a League One team next season, was Lee Frecklington, who could have chosen to stay in the Championship.

But the Peterborough midfielder saw ambition at United and capped an impressive first campaign at the club with the clinching goal that sparked an over-zealous reaction from some elements of the support base who stormed onto the pitch.

Frecklington was engulfed after firing past Jamie Young and took a stray kick to the shin.

Despite the incident, his relief at the justification of his move down two divisions was his over-riding emotion.

“Looking at the stadium and the players we’d already got, I felt that if I came we’d have a strong chance of getting promoted, and that’s what drew me to this place,” he said.

“Everything is here for the club to go on again and have a good season next year.

“We battered Stevenage and beat Notts County 3-0 in the FA Cup and they’re two decent League One sides.

“If we keep the squad together then I think something really good can continue to be built here.

“The hardest thing is getting out of League Two. If you look at the teams that have been promoted in the past they’ve generally done well in League One.

“We need to have a good summer, enjoy this, relax and then come back and we’ll go into next season and have a good go at it.”

For long spells this season, Rotherham looked destined to be contesting the play-offs.

They hovered between fourth and seventh for much of the campaign, even dropping down to ninth last month.

But they have come good at the right time, sprinting to the line with five straight wins, the last three of those achieved without conceding a goal.

“It’s a difficult league, teams make it difficult for you to play,” argued Frecklington, who has largely been the man tasked with unlocking defences.

“Admittedly with the fans, the stadium and the budget there was expectation and there’s definitely a sense of relief for everyone that we’ve done what we set out to do at the start of the season.”

Rotherham’s two goalscorers on Saturday had endured contrasting seasons.

While Frecklington has been one of the key signings of the Evans reign, Jonny Mullins was sent out on loan at the start of the season to Oxford.

Only a heart-to-heart with Evans on his return to the club resurrected his Millers career.

On Saturday, he led the team out for their biggest home game in years and scored the goal that set them on their way.

“I don’t think he would have thought his season would end like this but fair play to him,” said Frecklington of his captain.

“He thought he wasn’t wanted at the football club.

“So for him to come back and get the captain’s armband shows what a character he is.

“A lot of people’s heads would have dropped and they wouldn’t have been happy coming back here. But he’s come back and been excellent. Fair play to the gaffer for admitting he was wrong.”

Mullins’s goal took 64 minutes to arrive and when it did it felt like the entire town breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Rotherham had started with gusto, seeking to get a quick goal to get the party started.

Ben Pringle, Michael O’Connor and Alex Revell all went close in a frenetic opening 15 minutes but once that initial tempo died down, the anxiety grew.

Aldershot, led by Andy Scott, the man Evans succeeded, were very limited with only one man up front, despite their hopes of avoiding relegation still being alive, albeit barely.

Any goal they would have scored would have been completely against the run of play, so the alleviation of pressure was palpable when Rotherham finally scored.

Young was blinded by the sun and failed to hold O’Connor’s right-wing free-kick.

Revell tried to poke the ball forward, but when it was cleared off the line, there was Mullins at the far post.

“I thought he was Forrest Gump the way he took off in celebration,” quipped Evans, who himself ran 50 metres down the touchline.

With news that Cheltenham were still goalless against Bradford, the party could begin.

There were nervy moments, Kari Arnason twice clearing off the line in quick succession in the dying moments, before Frecklington coolly slotted the ball past Young after a fine run down the right by Pringle.

Cue delirium among the Millers fans who will celebrate this victory, promotion and what it means all summer long.

“There’s no better feeling in football,” summed up Frecklington. “Winning promotion for a club like this, you can tell from the scenes, everyone is delighted.”

Rotherham United: Shearer; Mullins, Arnason, Davis, Skarz; Noble (M Rose 90), O’Connor, Pringle, Frecklington; Agard (Nardiello 54), Revell (Odejayi 82). Unused substitutes: Warrington, Tonge, Ainsworth, Ridehalgh.

Aldershot: Young; Herd, Lancashire, Bradley, Tonkin; Vincenti (Reid 45), Mekki, Stanley, Hall, D Rose; Rankine. Unused substitutes: Worner, Risser, McCallum, Bergqvist, Goulding, Cadogan.

Referee: M Russell (Hertfordshire).