No Vassell, no Crooks, no penalty and no proper fourth official as winning run ends ... the story of Peterborough United 2 Rotherham United 1

Kyle Vassell was in the crowd at London Road, part of a bumper Rotherham United following as League One's most in-form side tested themselves against Peterborough United

Injury meant that on this day the striker could contribute only as a fan, bottled water in one hand, hopes of a sixth straight victory - just like the rest of the near-1,500 Millers - in the other.

His absence was costly as Paul Warne's table-toppers were bested for the first time since early December and slipped to second spot.

At least manager Warne had known well in advance about Vassell's calf problem and had been able to prepare for being without a forward who has bagged five goals in his last five outings.

Maybe even more damaging was midfielder Matt Crooks pulling out on the morning of the contest and rushing off to attend to a private emergency.

Both men have been huge figures in Rotherham's rise. The Millers, against a rejuvenated Posh side with promotion ambitions of their own, might have coped without one of them. It proved too difficult without either.

"We've had a few walking wounded this week," Warne said. "Wilesy (Ben Wiles) and Icky (Michael Ihiekwe) have been down as well. We knew earlier in the week that Vass was going to struggle.

"Crooksy's personal issue was at 11 o'clock this morning in the team hotel. He jumped in a taxi and went home. Our thoughts are with him."

Rotherham, 2-0 down inside 23 minutes, fought hard on Saturday but were below the standards they have set since Christmas and Peterborough, boasting the division's second-best home record, emerged from the scrap with a 2-1 victory they deserved.

"We didn't have any guile to create something different," Warne acknowledged. "Maybe it's because we were missing players, I don't know.

Rotherham on the attack

"We had too many people below par. It's disappointing because we've been on a really good run. When you're top of the league teams are always going to raise their game against you.

"When they asked us a lot of questions in the second half we didn't have good enough answers. We didn't play at our best."

Late, late on, substitute Julien Lamy danced towards the penalty box and his cross was handled by Josh Knight inside the area.

The Millers camp - fans, players and management - had very loud questions and referee Scott Oldham came up with the wrong answer.

Vassell could only watch aghast, along with the rest of the baying throng, as the official said 'no'.

THE MATCH

Inside two minutes, a tough task got a whole lot harder.

Peterborough, League One's joint-top scorers with Rotherham before kick-off, broke from a corner, Chiedozie Ogbene missed a chance to clear and Siriki Dembele streaked away to feed Ivan Toney who beat Daniel Iversen from a right angle.

Suddenly, the Millers were behind in a league encounter for the first time since the 2-2 home draw with Fleetwood Town on December 21.

Twenty-one minutes later, another lightning Posh attack saw Dan Butler spring Sam Szmodics clear down the line and the Bristol City loanee sped in on goal and took advantage of Butler's service with a clinical strike into the far corner.

Ten minutes before the break, Dan Barlaser's corner was straight into the path of Michael Ihiekwe whose volley reduced the arrears but the Millers knew they were in a battle and were coming off slightly worse.

"For the first 25 minutes we didn't press with enough intensity," Warne said. "I was quite happy to get in at half-time 2-1 down.

"I expected the team to go out and perform to a higher level in the second half. It just wasn't a good football game.

"We get criticised all the time for the way we supposedly play but I don't think Peterborough were footballing geniuses. They just kept turning us all the time.

"We found it hard to deal with their pace up front. They kept us pegged back quite a lot. I just felt our play was too 'straight-lined'."

Posh did a job on Rotherham, pressing them in the same way the Millers like to get at the opposition, and in the fleet-footed, jinking Dembele they had the game's most dangerous player.

Put Dembele in Warne's team and the visitors win this match.

Jerry Yates back with the Millers

Iversen's diving stop to claw away Toney's bouncing header on 51 minutes was the save of the day until Christy Pym matched him at the opposite end in the 71st minute as the ball left Michael Smith's head and looked destined for the bottom corner.

"The lads never give up," Warne said. "Their attitude is spot on. They tried to get a win for Crooksy, thinking that if he saw the final result and we'd won it would give him a bit of sunshine."

Smith's chance was Rotherham's last real opportunity. The closing minutes brought pressure but no real promise of a breakthrough until Lamy's charge and referee Oldham's eyesight malfunction.

Julien Lamy

Jerry Yates came on in the 90th minute as a Millers sub and looked brighter and sharper for his loan experience at Swindon Town in the brief time he was on the pitch.

Yates' mum, who has had a lot say on Twitter this week about her son's recall from the County Ground, probably gave his eight-minute cameo a 'like'.

His was but a bit-part, and there is chance he will be back with Swindon before the close of the transfer window. It was their leading men who the Millers were missing on an afternoon when they lost for the first time in eight games.

"If you went in my dressing room now, it's like the season's over and the players haven't got promoted," Warne said. "They're very down.

"Their first goal was from our corner. We didn't do our block, we didn't nail it on the edge of the box, then missed an opportunity to clear. Most goals are three mistakes and we made three or four.

"The second goal, we just didn't press quickly enough. They played down the side of us and, in fairness, the lad took his chance really well. Both were stoppable.

"In the second half, we huffed and puffed but we didn't really create anything. I don't think either team put more than five or six passes together.

"When we did put crosses in we didn't make their keeper make saves. I thought Smudge would score with the header which would have got us back to 2-2.

"It was just a real fight. There was a response when the lads went 2-0 down and they were more than competitive in the game."

FOURTH-OFFICIAL FARCE

Step forward Cliff Mills.

The Peterborough supporter and level-four ref was a spectator when an assistant referee pulled up lame in the second half.

After an appeal over the PA system for someone suitably qualified, the IT consultant found himself standing in as the fourth official while the original fourth official took over from the limping assistant referee.

Still following?

Why the injured assistant couldn't simply swap roles with the fourth official and see out the rest of the game sat down was something that bothered Warne and many others.

"There was a lot of frustration from me," he said. "I thought there were loads and loads of fouls, then we had the incident where a local fan becomes the fourth official.

"In fairness to their manager, he didn't want that either. It just ended up a bit farcical."

Warne was even more bothered by the handball that wasn't given

"I thought we had a good shout for a penalty at the end," he said, "I'm probably clutching at straws a little bit but it looked like it was one.

"It looked like it hit their player's leg and his arm. But his arm was away from his body. The rule is, that is a penalty. I appreciate we haven't got VAR in League One. It looked like a penalty."

This wasn't sour grapes. The boss had been as quick as anyone to accept his side had under-performed.

Yet replays subsequently showed a clear handball.

Taxi for the ref.

Peterborough (3-4-1-2): Christy Pym; Nathan Thompson, Marc Beevers, Frankie Kent; Joe Ward (Rhys Bennett 90), Reece Brown (Josh Knight 68), Jack Taylor, Dan Butler; Sam Szmodics; Ivan Toney, Siriki Dembele (Ricky-Jade Jones  82). Subs not used: Aaron Chapman, George Boyd, Niall Mason, Mo Eisa.

Rotherham (4-4-2): Dan Iversen; Matt Olosunde (Shaun MacDonald 90), Michael Ihiekwe, Richard Wood, Joe Mattock; Chiedozie Ogbene, Ben Wiles (Jerry Yates 90), Dan Barlaser, Hakeeb Adelakun (Julien Lamy 82); Freddie Ladapo, Michael Smith. Subs not used: Laurence Bilboe, Trevor Clarke, Jamie Lindsay, Jake Hastie.

Goals: Toney 2, Szmodics 23 (Peterborough); Ihiekwe 35 (Rotherham).

Referee: Scott Oldham (Lancashire).

Attendance: 7,495 (1,476).