Football was back. More importantly, so were fans. It was all wonderfully social and, best of all, there was no distancing ... the story of Rotherham United 11 Parkgate 0

THERE were no masks, no temperature checks, no empty seats, no talk of Covid.

Instead, a wall of red and white ran the length of the pitch as Rotherham United and non-league Parkgate FC revived their annual pre-season encounter.

Football was back. More importantly, so were fans. It was all wonderfully social and, best of all, there was no distancing.

We'd waited 16 months and suffered through a pandemic for this. No matter how high the mercury was climbing on one of the hottest days of the year, the mood at the Roundwood sports base both clubs call home was even warmer.

On the journey there, the first Millers shirt had been spotted just past ASDA a couple of miles away. Closer to the complex, the pavements were thick with them.

"Yap, yap, yap, yap," assaulted my ears as I wandered down the rutted pathway leading to the pitch more than an hour before Saturday's 1pm kick-off. It sounded aggressive, vicious, nasty.

"Jamie Lindsay's out warming up early," I thought to myself but it turned out to be a small dog lurking unseen in a nearby garden.

The Wing Wah Chinese takeaway at the top of the path was closed. It always is on this particular matchday, the proprietors never tempted to open their doors on what could be their busiest day of the year.

Eight-hundred supporters had paid £9 a throw to be there, every ticket snapped up online a week earlier within hours of going on sale.

Before kick-off, as they mingled outside the pitch area, there was laughter, the hum of anticipation, beer.

Jerseys bearing the name of new sponsors IPM Group were out in force, there were plenty of last year's Embark version, a smattering of Hodge Clemco from the season before.

Fan Liam Mullins was being interviewed by one of Rotherham's media team about the significance of the occasion. Liam was old school and T-Mobile was on his shirt that had been through the wash a few times over the years but, like everything else on this special day, was glowing with red-and-white vitality under the hot sun.

The game? Well, we'll come to that. This wasn't about events on the pitch, it was about the gathering off it. Not since March 7 2020 had they been able to stand together, applaud together, just be together in glorious, shared Millers communion.

Goalkeeper Viktor Johansson, a year into his contract but being watched by followers in the flesh for the first time, relished it as much as anybody

"It was unbelievable," he said after his team had romped to victory over opponents from the Northern Counties East League. "It was brilliant to see them. It was a great turn-out as well, a sell-out. You can't ask for more than that.

"I got to say 'hello' to a few of them in the warm-up and have a few words. Running out in front of them at New York Stadium for the first time next season, I can't wait for that."

The 800 attendance - swelled to a few dozen more by people peering over fences and hedges from the neighbouring street - was half what it would usually be, the curtailed numbers the only concession to coronavirus nine days before all restriction are lifted.

The game kicked off and Parkgate were in it briefly but soon wilted against a side that were in the Championship last season and are fancied for a League One promotion tilt next term.

Lindsay was being Lindsay. Playing the first half before an entire team change at the interval, he fell out with everybody including himself and more than once turned to the gaggle of teammates watching on the sidelines to moan about this and that, everything and nothing.

"Yap, yap, yap, yap," went the dog. Or maybe this time it really was the midfielder.

The Millers media team had told the Scot that around these parts Rotherham v Parkgate is a derby to match Celtic v Rangers in intensity and then quickly had to assure him they were joking when they saw the glint in his eye.

Rotherham manager Paul Warne loves the contest precisely because it's nothing like an Old Firm showdown.

"I'm a traditionalist and I like this game every year," he said. "I like the fact it's always played in the right spirit. There were no bad tackles where the benches were going up, which is crucial.

"The lads have covered more than 60 kilometres this week so they were leggy. Once the game settled down, we got on top. We're pleased."

The contest was played out impeccably by both sides and the only time it got anything like a bit fruity was when young Millers striker Jacob Gratton gobbled down a banana before he went on for the second half.

Just once was a voice raised and then it was in good humour. "F*cking hell, Lino," growled a mean, shaven-headed Parkgate defensive hombre when the Steelmen's centre-forward was flagged offside. "You should be giving us five yards every time."

The Millers led 3-0 at the break in their opening summer friendly and cruised out of sight by the final whistle.

Striker Freddie Ladapo looked hungry and sharp on his way to a hat-trick and Richard Wood scored a trademark header, putting his battered bonce in among the flying feet without a thought for his safety.

His first goal as a 36-year-old brought almost as big a grin as the one which won the League One Play-off Final at  Wembley in 2018.

"The cross came in, the ball was low and I just threw my head at it," the captain said. "I took a boot in the face for my trouble. I suppose that's my kind of thing. I enjoy that side of it."

"We moved the ball well and scored a lot of goals. It's a good start to pre-season. It's nice to have fans back. It's what we all want. It's going to be miles better next season with them in stadiums again, isn't it?"

This will be Rotherham's easiest outing in their build-up to the real stuff but remember that the Parkgate lads are among the cream of the town's local-league talent and deserve credit for battling until the final whistle.

Michael Smith opens the scoring

With the takeaway not an option, it was left to wide men Chiedozie Ogbene and Mickel Miller to provide the wing wah.

Ogbene was a scorching first-half presence while Miller kept finding second-half gaps that nobody else could see and accelerating through them with flashing poise. Think Joe Newell with pace.

Parkgate goalie Zak Walker must have had a stiff back as he kept picking the ball out of the net but he pulled off a series of fine saves and was the non-leaguers' man of the match.

Beforehand, both sides took the knee, provoking a little booing from a couple of pockets in the crowd before the majority of spectators chose to clap.

Afterwards, players and fans came together. Dan Barlaser was a popular choice for pictures and so was Matt Crooks, but Johansson was the one most supporters wanted and shouts of 'Viking' filled the air.

The keeper risked the wrath of Warne, who was eager for the post-match warm-down to commence, by staying out longer than he should have done.

"We love you, Viktor," a mum with her young kids told him and it was quite obvious that, in return, the beaming Viking loved them.

Woody was busy showing off the bruising around his left eye, the price he was contentedly paying for being the first pensioner to score in the long history of this fixture.

He was smiling, everyone was smiling, except Warne who was growing angry. Then the taskmaster boss finally got his group together, made them run hard and he was smiling too.

Bodies everywhere ... your usual Richard Wood goal

It was one of those days when you were just glad you were there, a reminder of how much fans need football and how football is nothing without them.

I stayed awhile to conduct interviews and left long after most people had departed.

To the left of the car-park as I walked out three old fellas were enjoying a game of crown-green bowls.

In a final splash of red and white, one of them was wearing a Millers shirt.

Even Lindsay would have liked that.

Rotherham first half: Viktor Johansson, Wes Harding, Jake Cooper, Richard Wood, Joe Mattock, Chiedozie Ogbene, Dan Barlaser, Jamie Lindsay, Curtis Durose, Josh Kayode, Michael Smith.

Rotherham second half: Josh Vickers, Sam Greenhouse, Michael Ihiekwe, Jake Hull, Reece Hutchinson, Kieran Sadlier, Ben Wiles, Matt Crooks, Mikel Miller, Freddie Ladapo, Jacob Gratton.

Parkgate: Zak Walker, Elliott Simpson, Tom Staniland, Brad Kilburn, Jamie Knox, Will Wraith, Brandon Bagley, Tom Almond, Sam Ackroyd, Mack Collinson, Aiden Salmons. Subs (all used): Aji Bassi, Alex Rippon, Jack Birks, Freddie Tracey, Jake Ellam, Olly Yates, Zak Khalifa.

Goals: Smith 15, Kayode pen 18, Wood 30, Miller 53, Ladapo 54, 69, 76, Almond og 68, Wiles 70, 90, Crooks 80.