A fast exit, an apology and the mystery of the 'allocated marker' ... the story of Rotherham United 1 Exeter City 1

At the final whistle, Steve Evans headed straight down the tunnel.

I'm not sure he even hung around long enough to shake the hand of opposing manager Gary Caldwell, I can't say for certain that he heard the outbreak of booing.

The Millers hadn't lost, the game with Exeter City had had goals and chances, but everything felt flat and unsatisfactory.

Much like the season really. There hasn't been a lot of happiness around AESSEAL New York Stadium this term as Rotherham have threatened now and again to ignite but haven't regularly caught fire.

They could have beaten Exeter, should have beaten Exeter, but didn't.

A single-goal lead at the break was scant reward, reckoned Evans. Caldwell insisted his side, who'd grazed a post in a close-range scramble, were unlucky to be trailing. Both were right, neither was wrong.

While the visitors were attempting a world record for the most corners in the first 20 minutes of a game, the Millers were twice missing glaringly.

“We don't name players and say he's the reason why we didn't score,” said Evans before immediately naming the player and saying he was the reason why Rotherham didn't score.

Poor old Sam Nombe didn't have the best day against his former club.

“He's the reason why we didn't turn around 3-0 up at half-time,” his boss said.

Nombe put a header into the North Stand after Joe Rafferty had put the ball on a plate for him, then did really well to rob New York old boy Angus MacDonald but really badly to waste his run in on goal by veering right and allowing himself to be crowded out.

The opening period was about to edge into stoppage time when Reece James played an inside pass to Mallik Wilks who was tightly marked by Ed Turns.

Ed Turns, does he? Well, so, too, does Wilks who manoeuvred his way around the City centre-half and forced goalkeeper Joe Whitworth into a rushed parry that James turned into the net.

“We get the goal and it's a good goal,” Evans said. “It's brilliant work with Reece and Mallik and Reece taps it in. At half-time, it's frustrating that it's only 1-0.”

The manager's frustration grew worse soon after the interval when Hakeem Odoffin, who had earlier pulled-off a goal-saving block on Ryan Trevitt's first-time effort, didn't make the most of a back-post opportunity created by Joe Powell's bending, bouncing free-kick.

And it reached boiling point on 56 minutes as his side conceded an equaliser he described as “a shambles”.

Rafferty needlessly gave a foul away, Nombe's attempted clearing header from the free-kick was a weak one and a shot deflected off Odoffin into the path of Alex Hartridge whose effort from an angle found its way over the line.

“It's a poor header from Sam, a really poor header, a striker's header, he heads it down,” Evans said. “If he'd headed the one after seven minutes down it would have been a goal.

“It gets a little ricochet and their player has an allocated marker who is nowhere near him.”

The allocated marker's apology afterwards fell on deaf Evans ears, but who had issued it?

Was it Odoffin? Rafferty? James? Cameron Humphrey? Someone else? This time, the boss wasn't saying.

Rotherham went for the win, Exeter defended by all means necessary and Wilks found himself in need of a jersey change.

When asked about it, Evans gave an answer that never mentioned his player or the ripped shirt but pointed the finger at the referee via the name of an opponent.

“I thought Josh Magennis ran the game,” he said. “I thought he must have been the referee's best mate.

“If I was in the referee's face, raising my arms and pointing and swearing and shouting from a yard away, I'd be sitting upstairs and rightfully so.

“I love big Magennis. He's a wily old fox, he's a big competitor. He's an international, of course. He controlled the referee. What I'll go and ask the referee shortly is, why does he allow that to happen?”

In a flurry of Rotherham opportunities, Hartridge performed heroics to head away Shaun McWilliams' goalbound header, Wilks waved his way into the box and was foiled by a flying stop and Pelly Mpanzu couldn't get his follow-up attempt on target.

Then a curling Powell corner was just kept out by Whitworth's late intervention and the keeper had to save from the same player who tried his luck from 20 yards.

“We had four or five good chances to win it in the second half,” Evans said. “I know their goalkeeper was making saves but he was making saves because the finishes weren't the best.”

The Millers should have won but might have lost. Magennis pulled himself away from the ref for long enough to somehow miss the target with a free header from inside the six-yard box.

The contest between two sides separated by only a point drifted to a dreary conclusion: another match ticked off, 10 still to negotiate, Rotherham just below mid-table with no play-off hopes and no relegation concerns.

Evans made his quick departure, many fans had beaten him to it and had already made theirs.

The end of the game couldn't come soon enough.

The end of the campaign can't come soon enough either.

Rotherham (4-1-3-2): Dillon Phillips; Joe Rafferty, Hakeem Odoffin, Cameron Humphreys, Reece James; Liam Kelly; Pelly Mpanzu, Shaun McWilliams (Josh Kayode 76), Joe Powell (Louie Sibley 88); Mallik Wilks, Sam Nombe. Subs not used: Cameron Dawson, Harrison Duncan, Jack Holmes, Andre Green, Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Exeter (3-4-2-1): Joe Whitworth; Ed Turns, Angus MacDonald, Alex Hartridge; Jack McMillan, Ryan Trevitt, Ed Francis (Caleb Watts 64), Pat Jones (Ilmari Niskanen 64); Demetri Mitchell (Tony Yogane 64), Joel Colwill (Jack Aitchison 79); Josh Magennis. Subs not used: Ryan Woods, Reece Cole, Sonny Cox.

Goals: James 45 (Rotherham); Hartridge 56 (Exeter)

Referee: Martin Coy (Durham)

Attendance: 8,438 (482)