Ronnie's rallying call to Millers

Rock bottom Darlington produced one of the footballing shocks of the week by ending the Millers' unbeaten home league record at Don Valley Stadium on Tuesday night.

Coming after a weather-induced break of nearly six weeks, Rotherham's lethargic performance surprised manager Ronnie Moore and he is desperate to avoid another embarrassment when the Mariners, struggling in next-to-bottom spot in League Two, check in at Don Valley.

And having seen his side labour time and again on their own patch since he took charge, the Millers chief wants his players to start taking charge of matters at home and getting their supporters back onside.

He said: "We need to start games like we keep ending them. The way we played in the last 20 minutes on Tuesday is how we need to set off, at a high tempo and getting behind teams and putting them on the back foot.

"The crowd want to see blood, sweat and enthusiasm but they didn't see that the other night.

"I know Don Valley isn't ideal but we've got to live with it. There's only 3,000 in the ground and players can hear things that are said from the side and one or two are wilting a bit.

"I must admit, the break affected us more than I thought it would have done and it was so disappointing to lose our home record to the bottom of the league.

"No disrespect to Darlington and Grimsby, but I would been unhappy with four points from these two home matches. Now we've no chance of that."

The defeat meant Rotherham slipped to fifth spot ahead of this weekend and Tuesday's rearranged visit to promotion rivals Chesterfield.

Tomorrow's match starts at 3pm and the Chesterfield derby at 7.45pm.