Not the opening day the Millers wanted ... on-the-whistle report: Stoke City 4 Rotherham United 1

Rotherham United's trip to Stoke City in October produced one of the most memorable results of their Championship survival season when they beat the might of the former Premier League Potters 1-0.

On opening day of this second-tier campaign, however, there was only concern at the bet365 Stadium as they went down to a chastening defeat against opponents who were better in every department.

The damage was done in the carnage of added time at the close of the first half when the Millers, without new-boy striker Andre Green who had picked up a minor injury in the build-up to the clash, conceded twice.

They improved considerably after the break but it was still a long afternoon in Staffordshire, particularly after a sending-off for debutant Cafu had ended any slight hopes of a comeback.

Rotherham, also giving a debut to Fred Onyedinma, fell behind to a stunning goal after only five minutes as Josh Laurent crossed from the left and loanee Ki-Jana Hoever crashed in a 16-yard volley off the underside of the bar.

After a summer of heavy recruitment, Stoke had six debutants in their starting 11 while Brazilian striker Wesley, who cost Aston Villa £22 million four years, was one of the new faces among their subs.

It was hard going for the Millers in the opening stages against slick, quick opponents on a surface made wet by prolonged rain.

On 20 minutes, Cafu freed Ben Wiles through the middle as the visitors threatened for the first time but the midfielder checked his run and passed out wide rather than sprinting for goal and the opportunity was gone.

Rotherham were defending resolutely but struggling to force their way into the opposition half They kept out corner after corner before forcing a couple of their own.

From the second of them, Wiles turned after a clever touch from Cafu and brought a save from Mark Travers with a low shot.

The Millers needed to get to the break only a goal in arrears but everything fell apart in stoppage time.

Sean Morrison was lucky to escape with only a caution when he brought down Jacob Brown who was going clean through but Rotherham were made to pay when Michael Rose got his head on the subsequent free-kick to give Andre Vidigal a tap-in

Matters grew even worse five minutes later as Viktor Johansson pulled off a sharp save from Ryan Mmaee only to then slip over, allowing Vidigal to bag again, this time with a crisp strike that went in with the help of a post.

Soon afterwards, the referee blew but half-time had come too late for Matt Taylor's men.

Rotherham were without a number of first-team contenders through injuries and were forced to pad out their nine-man bench with youngsters Ciaran McGuckin and Josh Ayres.

Morrison was taken off the interval as the Millers changed to a four-man defence and his replacement, Lee Peltier, needed less than a minute to put his name on the scoresheet, poking the ball home from a corner.

It was an up-and-down cameo for the scorer who departed 12 minutes later through injury.

Someone else departing was Cafu, on 70 minutes, after picking up two yellow cards, the second of which came for a challenge that was a fair tackle, not a foul.

Johansson denied Vidigal a hat-trick late on, acrobatically keeping out the attacker's header, before Hoever's goalbound shot was deflected over.

A man down and hit by injury, the Millers finished as they'd started, by conceding a goal. Brown steered the ball over the line in the 90th minute to complete their misery.

What could go wrong had gone wrong for Rotherham.

Stoke (4-3-3): Mark Travers; Ki-Jana Hoever, Michael Rose, Ben Wilmot, Enda Stevens; Josh Laurent, Ben Pearson (Jordan Thompson 79), Daniel Johnson (Sol Sidibe,90); Jacob Brown, Ryan Mmaee (Chiquinho 75), Andre Vidigal (Wesley 90). Subs not used: Jack Bonham, Josh Tymon, Luke McNally, David Okagbue, Nathan Lowe.

Rotherham (3-5-1-1): Viktor Johansson; Cameron Humphreys, Sean Morrison (Lee Peltier H-T, Lembikisa 58), Tyler Blackett; Fred Onyedinma (Josh Kayode 79), Ollie Rathbone (Jamie McCart 79), Hakeem Odoffin, Cafu, Cohen Bramall; Ben Wiles; Jordan Hugill (Georgie Kelly 63). Subs not used: Dillon Phillips, Tolaji Bola, Ciaran McGuckin, Josh Ayres.

Goals: Hoever 5, Vidigal 45+2, 45+7, Brown 90 (Stoke); Peltier 46 (Rotherham).

Referee: John Busby (Oxfordshire).

Attendance: 22,601 (1,672).