Winning hearts as Paul Warne’s Rotherham United impress in FA Cup exit

At the end of this engrossing Cup tie at Goodison, sadly without the presence of Evertonians to give Rotherham United the standing ovation which they deserved at the final whistle or proud Millers supporters to acclaim their side’s valour, Ancelotti duly acknowledged his opposite number before heading briskly down the tunnel.

For a ‘quiet word’ with his Everton players, maybe, with it left to assistant manager Duncan Ferguson to speak to the press.

By contrast, Warne was entitled to be quietly content after his side pushed Everton – minus some big-hitters but still pretty strong – all the way. In a normal year, it would have earned a replay, of course.

Ahead of the game, the Millers chief stated that Ancelotti was the managerial figure he most admires for his perceived cool and calm demeanour and approach.

The Everton manager may have needed a quick prompt as to who Warne was before kick-off, but you can bet your last Euro he knows who he is now after his Millers side bettered his own in 90 minutes and were only put to the sword after a raft of substitutions eventually took effect.

Warne said: “The funny thing was I walked up to him before the game and I could see Duncan Ferguson elbow him and say: ‘That’s the manager there’, I could lip-read him even through a mouth visor. I just said hello and he said: ‘I didn’t know who you were but I understand you read my book’, which is a great opening gambit!”

On the pitch, the opening hand was played by Everton, courtesy of a delicate ninth-minute strike by Cenk Tosun.

But this was not plainly not an occasion where Millers players had their autograph books out, as they overcame a rusty and nervy start to settle in splendid fashion and outplay, outwork and outbattle those in royal blue jerseys.

The Cup can do funny things and the Millers played nothing like a side who had lost their previous seven away fixtures.

Players stood tall in the likes of Matt Crooks and Michael Smith – with an England international in Michael Keane and future one in Ben Godfrey struggling to cope with their physicality.

In midfield, Rotherham swarmed all over Tom Davies and Andre Gomes and it took the arrival of the eventual match-winner Abdoulaye Doucoure and Niels Mkounkou, two players blessed with the athleticism that their team-mates were lacking, to gradually turn the tide.

The Millers were also in possession of the best player on the pitch in Matt Olosunde, who gave the returning Lucas Digne a torrid time with his surges forward.

Hailing from the Keystone State of Philadelphia, the buccaneering right-back picked a key moment to score his first ever competitive goal when he slid home Smith’s deflected pass early in the second half to cancel out Tosun’s opener. Unlikely heroes do arrive in the FA Cup.

Reflecting on his day, he said: “My parents were watching (in the US) and some of my friends. They watch every game. They get it on iFollow whenever they can. I think a few more friends than usual were watching.

“My folks are big football fans. My parents watch a lot of football and my brother does as well. He will have been watching.”

The Millers’ wait to reach round four may have stretched into an twentieth year, courtesy of Doucoure’s extra-time winner, but there was still plenty to enthuse about – and Olosunde had every reason to afford himself some element of satisfaction.

He added: “When you’ve put your all into it like that, it’s always disappointing when you don’t get a result. It hurts how we went out in extra time, but everyone is happy with how we played. It came down to fine margins in the end.”

Evertonians sing about their club being ‘a grand old team to play for’. For large parts of Saturday, they viewed a grand old mess from afar.

Tosun’s early opener, after Anthony Gordon spun away from Michael Ihiekwe and delivered a sumptuous pass which was converted deftly by the Turkish international for his first goal since November, 2019, hinted at it being a routine afternoon.

It was anything but. It was the Blues’ only effort on target in regulation time, with Tosun’s late ‘goal’ ruled out for offside from James Rodriguez’s free-kick.

The Millers and Olosunde fired out a warning when the marauding full-back was denied by Robin Olsen, with Crooks’s follow-up blocked before the Everton keeper turned away Dan Barlaser’s fierce drive.

Rotherham took to the stage with Crooks glancing a header just over and continued to believe on the restart as they won battles across the pitch – with Olosunde’s leveller being fully merited.

The Millers persisted and Ancelotti will have held his breath at times with no Dominic Calvert-Lewin or Richarlison in reserve.

Doucoure’s strike early in extra time from Rodriguez’s fine pass will have ensured he was breathing a bit easier.

For the Millers, it is now about staying up. The trick is sustaining this level of performance, as Warne sagely knows too well.

He added: “I really believe in this group, I always have, they give me everything they have got and if nothing else, we can now give the league a good run.

“But I do not want the lads to get on the bus and think they have got life sussed and that we will be OK. The league will be a different game to today, this was a life experience for them, it is an honour to play at this great stadium.”

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