I'm glad we didn't take long to replace Alex Neil and though my heart sank when I heard Tony Mowbray was likely to be the new boss, I feel happy enough about it now.
At the beginning of this season I hoped we'd end up around eighth in the league as going up too quickly might well result in us coming down just as quickly. Mowbray certainly has a reputation for bringing stability and many say that he's good at bringing on young players, both of which qualities are needed at the moment. Michut has finally signed and he sounds like a great acquisition while one or two others seem set to follow him today so that's a boost. As regards this evening's game, it'll be a tough one because Rotherham looked to me like the best side in League One last season and they're currently unbeaten, lying eighth with two games in hand on all the teams around them. They've only conceded two goals so far and will be a tough nut to crack. We did well on Saturday and were unlucky not to get a point at least plus there was no sign of us collapsing after Neil's departure. All being well our players will be doing their best to impress Mowbray. A win would be a great result but my match prediction is 1-1.
I was late getting back from work and I got the match on SAFSEE about three minutes before kick-off. There was a warm welcome for Tony Mowbray and our fans were in good voice. A quick check of the starting eleven showed no changes from the Norwich match and Matete was back on the bench.
We started off brightly and Clarke had a decent shot in the sixth minute that was saved. Stewart went down with a facial injury and eventually recovered well enough to continue. We won two corners in quick succession but Rotherham dealt with them easily enough. We continued to knock the ball around nicely and after fifteen minutes Simms and Stewart combined well but the latter’s shot went about a foot wide. Shortly afterwards Gooch went on a great run and his effort was hooked off the line by Harding. Next thing a Rathbone shot forced Patterson into his first real save but all in all things were going ominously well. Just before the half-way mark Rotherham started to get into it a lot more and I wondered if we’d regret not making the most of our earlier chances. Patterson made another good save from a Wiles long-distance effort. Peltier got the first yellow of the game for a foul on Neil and Pritchard shaped up to take the free-kick about twenty-five yards out but his shot went over the bar. We battled back and not long after the half-hour mark Simms and Pritchard combined well to feed Stewart but again his shot curled just wide of the post. Next thing a Stewart header went over the bar and a goal felt not too far away, though we still hadn’t forced Johansson in goal to do much. As half-time approached the match was sounding pretty scrappy and with Stewart’s injury there was bound to be a fair bit of stoppage-time. Only two minutes were announced as it turned out during which our fans shouted for a penalty as Simms went down but commentators Barnes and Benno reckoned he’d gone down too easily. It remained goalless as the whistle went.
New signings Ba and Diallo along with the other two new lads had been warmly received by the crowd during the break but that wasn’t on our broadcast. As we kicked off again it felt like it would end 0-0 or 1-0, but to which side I couldn’t be sure. In a couple of recent games we’ve been too tardy in getting a few subs on after the opposition had brought on three with the result that we were out-puffed for too long so I hoped Mowbray wouldn’t do the same. We again started off brightly but still couldn’t make anything count. Then a Batth header went narrowly wide and the crowd were gasping but less than a minute later we were ahead after a Clarke cross set up a golden chance for Stewart from six yards out and this time he buried it. “We’re by far the greatest…” was coming over very loud and clear. Rotherham made the first change not long after the hour bringing on Eaves for Washington and just after that Stewart made it 2-0. Again it was a great Clarke pass that found him not far out and once more he gave Johansson no chance as he shot into the bottom right corner. With only twenty-five minutes to go I didn’t think we’d let the lead slip and I felt we might even score another. We brought on Roberts for Pritchard to much applause all round. Clarke crowned an excellent performance by going on a long dribble before slotting the ball in to make it 3-0 and that surely sealed our win. With fifteen minutes to go our fans were singing, “Don’t worry about a thing. Every little thing’s gonna be all right” and things were feeling great. We hadn’t had a yellow card yet, not even O’Nien. Stoke were getting beat 1-0 at home. We brought on Wright for Clarke with around eight minutes left and he received a deserved ovation. I still fancied another goal to get revenge for that good hiding Rotherham gave us last season. Embleton replaced Neal as the minutes ticked away and it gave our fans the chance to applaud more. Four minutes of stoppage-time were announced and we continued to press forward. It ended 3-0 to great delight.
This was an excellent win and after a fairly even first-half we barely gave Rotherham a sniff in the second. Clarke sounded brilliant and his confidence must be sky high as we approach the Boro match. Tony Mowbray will be a very happy man and he won’t be the only one.
