MATCHDAY CENTRE: Millers swallow bitter pill in derby defeat

They lost, they should have drawn, the could easily have won but went away cursing their bad luck at a time when they need the other kind more than ever.

Talk about kicking a team when they’re down. Referee Tim Robinson’s stoppage-time decision to point to the spot when Sheffield Wednesday’s Portuguese forward Lucas Joao went to ground under minimal contact from Richard Wood was hard enough to take. Wood’s subsequent red card and Steven Fletcher’s sweetly struck resulting penalty winner added insult to injury.

After such a good run of results at Hillsborough, including a couple of late league winners and a cup penalty shoot-out success, the Millers’ luck was bound to run out there some time.

MILLERS FEEL THE PAIN AFTER LATE PENALTY GOAL FOR OWLS

The fact that whistle happy Mr Robinson chalked off what looked a perfectly good goal when Tom Adeyemi headed home late in the first half, seeing a supposed infringement, only added to the pain of a defeat that felt even worse than their last South Yorkshire derby setback, the 4-0 reverse at Barnsley back in August.

Rotherham’s strength of character will be tested more than ever now and once the dust is settled, they will need to forget about it and take positives from how they succeeded in making life so difficult for their arch rivals.

The defending was so tight that Wednesday, for all their promotion ambitions, were made to luck pretty ordinary. Stripped of Fernando Forestieri and Gary Hooper, they didn’t cause the Millers half the problems Fulham had in midweek.

Paul Warne's men missed the forward thrust of Izzy Brown but the midfield was stronger for the experience of Lee Frecklington and Peter Odemwingie, back from suspension. With Adeyemi putting himself about to increasingly good effect, there were enough numbers and know-how in the middle of the park to suffocate Wednesday and when they did start to make headway in the second half, Darnell Fisher was on the spot to hoof Joao’s dink off the line and Lewis Price was equal to a Fletcher header.

Even putting the disallowed goal to one side, the match might also have turned out different if Wood hadn’t put a close-ranger header into the grateful arms of Kieren Westwood in the first half. Odemwingie also snatched at a decent chance.

Through it all Mr Robinson was just too prominent, blowing up left, right and centre and interrupting the flow of both sides.

Rotherham deserved more and the 1,000 or so travelling fans in the Leppings Lane End who forked out up to £36 to see it certainly did.

READ: Warne proud despite late derby defeat

The war was lost but Warne’s men, still 12 points adrift of the Championship safety line, clearly aren’t giving up on the battle.