Rotherham United v Nottingham Forest – Millers out to upset the history books

The Millers chief may be a qualified teacher but he has never been one for consulting the history books regarding football.

It is just as well, given Rotherham’s bizarre run of results against today’s opponents.

Incredibly, the Millers have not beaten Forest in their last 23 meetings in all competitions since a victory at the City Ground in April, 1955.

To add to the freakish flavour, the pair’s previous eight league meetings in South Yorkshire have all strangely ended in draws.

Should the relegation-threatened Millers finally have their day, those supporters with long memories may finally cast aside some painful memories against Forest but Warne is rather more concerned with the here and now.

His side head into the game on the back of a fraught 6-1 defeat at Forest’s neighbours Derby County, with a forthcoming home double-header against two other play-off chasing Midlands sides in Forest and Aston Villa offering scant respite on paper.

But Warne, for one, is confident that his Millers side have moved on from the grim events at Pride Park – and they simply have no choice in any case.

Warne said: “I do not think it (the Derby result) is as big a drama as some are making out.

“Most of us who have been in football for years know you get a (similar) defeat and the manager gets you in the next game, but I am not about that pantomime at all.

“I know the lads want success and to end the season like we all do and we are in it all together. I am not throwing the lads under the bus.

“We obviously need a better performance this week than last. But I do not think it is a major drama.

“Although, if we lost three games on the trot by 6-1, I know we would be in deep trouble.

“But I just hope it was a game where everything that could go wrong did.

“I do not judge the lads’ performances on just one game. It is over the course of the season that counts.

“Hopefully, it is just a blip that will make them bounce back as they know the importance of the home game on Saturday.

“We will go into the last seven games in the same way as we have done in all the games.

“If we come up short, it is on me and I understand that.”