ANALYSIS: Another painful kick towards League One for Rotherham United

YESTERDAY’S inquest between management and players into Rotherham United’s latest failure might have been long and painful but it won’t produce any miracle cures.
Debutant Carlton Morris shows his dejectionDebutant Carlton Morris shows his dejection
Debutant Carlton Morris shows his dejection

Deep down, everyone just wants to get this wretched season out of the way and then regroup and start again in a league where there is more chance of winning football matches.

The long-suffering supporters have long accepted their team is going down. It's more now about showing a bit of fight and hope for the future.

There has been a bit of that in recent weeks against Huddersfield, Aston Villa and Wolves but precious little of it at QPR on Saturday apart from an OK first half and a peach of a goal from Joe Newell.

Rotherham were beaten and bedraggled, dragged under by their own ineptitude and mistakes, the type they've committed so often.

Poor old Paul Warne is doing the best with the hand he's been dealt and whether or not you believe he should be given the job permanently, he hit the nail square on the head afterwards.

"I take the upmost criticism because at the moment I’m the leader of this group but some of the players need to stand up and show me more than they did today," he said.

“All I can do is try to get the most out of this group but fundamentally they are struggling at this level.”

The 29th league defeat of the season, a club record, was also the 12th on the bounce away from home and the seventh on the spin since the draw with Blackburn. Hardley suprising then that hesitancy and lack of confidence is so engrained.

It was there from the moment Matt Smith was left a clear run to drill past a poorly positioned Lewis Price. Warne was right to call Joe Newell's 13th minute equaliser, lashed in from 25 yards, a contender for Goal of the Day. He was also right to put Rangers' second goal in the "howler" category, Semi Ajayi's clanger allowing Luke Freeman to nip in to quickly restore the lead.

Those mistakes ensured QPR, for all their hot form lately, managed to end a dire first half in front without really having to play well and it's that kind of charitable defending which might well see Rotherham's "goals against" column topping the 100 mark by the time May comes around.

The second-half wasn't dissimilar to the second half of the 5-0 beating at Cardiff. The Millers shrivelled, cut to ribbons at the back and blunt going forward.

Aimen Belaid's climb on Smith allowed Yeni Ngbakoto to send Price the wrong way from the penalty spot four minutes after the restart and even though Price's acrobatics denied the scorer a second, it was as good as game over when Massimo Luongo headed in Rangers' fourth on 57 minutes.

The 262 travelling supporters got a long-awaited first look at Norwich City loan man Carlton Morris and he should have capped his late appearance with a goal from his first touch but it was all academic. Conor Washington clobbered the post at the other end before the yellow wall parted again for Nedum Onuoha to tap in for 5-1.

Roll on May 7.