ANALYSIS: A scrap too far as Millers surrender

All the weeks and months of fighting and scrapping and being knocked to the floor and having to get back up again, it all got too much. Shoulders dropped, legs stopped pumping, spirits sagged and a few accepted that the battle, and possibly the war, had got the better of them.

There was a cruel irony that Neil Warnock, the man responsible for keeping the Millers in the division last season, should tip them further over the edge.

He didn’t gloat, and you just knew he’d have rather hammered any team 5-0 than Rotherham, but that’s football.

A year on since the 68-year-old started to work his magic at the New York Stadium, he’s moulding a decent Cardiff City team while Rotherham look more than ever in need of a reshape, a rethink and a fresh start in League One.

The pity was that Warnock’s bunch didn’t have to play particularly well to win. Just a bit of extra power and pace, plus some charitable Rotherham defending, was enough.

There was a harrowing debut for Swedish centre-half Joel Ekstrand, plunged into a back four that was pulled all over the shop. At the other end of the park, Dexter Blackstock had a chance to shine in the absence of the injured Danny Ward and failed, hooked after an hour, but they weren’t the only ones to fall short.

The team was missing Tom Adeyemi, Semi Ajayi, Lee Frecklington and one or two others but that can’t excuse the white flag that went up in the second half.

The fact the Millers failed to plant a single shot on targets says it all.

Neither Paul Warne, his staff nor the small knot of Rotherham supporters who made the long journey to South Wales deserved it.

At least Jon Taylor didn’t chuck the towel in. The wide man was running and chasing long after some others had stopped. He was also one of the few to try and test underworked goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Given the limitations in the ranks, the players have to man up to stand a chance, as they’ve done so often under Warne and in the previous three matches against Bristol City, Blackburn and Huddersfield.

If they drop their standards and focus just a notch then they’re in trouble.

Rotherham were chasing it from the moment Kadeem Harris floated in the opener on 11 minutes. Richard O’Donnell did well to deny him a second but didn’t get near much else once Cardiff had the cushion and the confidence of a 2-0 lead handed to them by substitute Junior Hoilett’s easy goal right on half time, handed to him by a stray back pass from Ben Purrington.

Dexter Blackstock and Jon Taylor try make headway.

The Millers came out for the second half with instructions to get at Cardiff. Instead they shipped two goals in five minutes to Craig Noone’s cushioned volley and an angled finish from hard-running Danish striker Kenneth Zohore.

Warne attempted all he could, using all three subs and trying a 4-4-2. Strangely enough they also had slightly more of the ball. The difference was that Cardiff had the skills, agility and muscle to make their attacking forays count and Rotherham were praying for the final whistle long before Zohore lobbed in the final goal seven minutes from time.

It wasn’t only the heaviest defeat of the 16 on the road this term, it was the most telling.