Frustration, dressing-room friction and another 'nearly' match ... the story of Huddersfield Town 1 Rotherham United 0
WE'D had the howls of protest, we'd had the sarcastic cheers for an attempt on target, we'd had the vociferous booing.
Only none of them were aimed at Rotherham United.
Disenchantment in the stands has been the soundtrack to large parts of the Millers' ailing League One campaign.
However, on this occasion the subject of the ire was Huddersfield Town.
Matt Hamshaw's men were doing an away ‘job’ on opponents going for the play-offs and home fans didn't like what they were seeing. Forget 13th matches unbeaten on their own turf, the Terriers were getting it in the ear in the Yorkshire derby.
It was 0-0 well into the second period, Rotherham could have - should have - been in front. They were looking good for at least one survival point at the Accu Stadium.
But the scoreboard clock ticked into the 76th minute, Sean Roughan crossed for Town, Lenny Agbaire rose and the Millers centre-half's ponytail made most of the contact.
The ball skimmed over Ted Cann high into the net. Own goal, and the expression on the crestfallen defender's face said it all.
A good afternoon was turning into a bad one.
Hamshaw, when he came out to face the media following Saturday's lunch-time kick-off, looked just as dejected as Agbaire had. It sounded like words had been exchanged behind closed doors.
“It's just tough to take,” the manager said. “There's been a bit of frustration afterwards with the players in the changing room.”
In the first half, Rotherham - pressing hard, running even harder - were clearly the better side and Harry Gray brought an early save from Lee Nicholls while a Shaun McWilliams shot took a deflection and was heading in until the goalkeepers' flying, arcing, last-gasp intervention.
Town, big spenders in the summer and January transfer windows, had achieved nothing and their followers let them know it.
“I think you've seen today what a good side we can be,” Hamshaw said. “We've obviously changed the landscape of the club since I've been here. We've got a lot of younger players. I appreciate that can be difficult - nobody wants to be where we are in this league at this moment.”
With more than staying up in his bigger picture, he added: “I think that in the coming months it's also about having assets for this club, making sure that we're developing them right and making sure that we have players who have proved that they can compete at this level.
“If you looked at what Huddersfield have had and got compared to us, the difference is night and day. But there was no difference in the teams.”
After the break, Sam Nombe made it to the byline and his low cut-back presented Reece James with a golden chance. What followed was a tame shot and Nicholls' easiest save of the afternoon, when a Millers goal would have turned the atmosphere febrile.
Murray Wallace broke forward to finally force Cann into action and received mock applause for his trouble before the keeper pulled off a fine stop to push away Josh Feeney's header and then scrambled vainly in horror as Agbaire's assist left him in no-man's land.
“We're missing big players but, at the same time, I thought the performance levels today were good,” Hamshaw said. “If the performance levels were nowhere near good enough, that would be more worrying for me.
“We've certainly shown in these last four or five games what we're capable of doing, but we haven't got anywhere near enough points. We should have had something against Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City, we should have had something today.”
He's as tired of injury lists and ‘nearly’ matches as everyone else is: ”These interviews are getting harder to do because I feel like I'm coming out and saying the same things.”
It's plain where the Millers are hurting themselves - in their last seven matches, they have scored only twice.
“We're probably lacking a little bit of firepower,” said the boss, knowing that there was no ‘probably’ about it. ”This was a good opportunity for us today and we haven't taken it.”
Sights of goal in a stoppage-time flurry for Liam Kelly, twice, a Lino Sousa came to nothing and the result brought a first loss in three matches. Rotherham stayed in 22nd place and Blackpool’s draw with Wigan Athletic later in the day saw the gap to safety increase by a point to three.
“‘Should have won’ or ‘could have won’ doesn't get you anywhere,” was Hamshaw's last lament.
At the final whistle, the players headed towards an away gathering of around 600 supporters. Some fans are disaffected beyond placation and now the Accu boos came from Millers mouths.
They weren't warranted. Not this time.
Huddersfield (4-2-3-1): Lee Nicholls; Bali Mumba, Murray Wallace, Radino Balker (Josh Feeney 44), Sean Roughan; Ryan Ledson, Cameron Humphreys; Marcus Harness (David Kasumu 62), Antony Evans (Bobby Wales 62), Cameron Ashia; Ryan Hardie (Will Alves 82). Subs not used: Jak Alnwick, Lasse Sorensen, Mickel Miller.
Rotherham (3-1-4-2): Ted Cann; Jamal Baptiste, Lenny Agbaire, Zak Jules (Lino Sousa 78); Liam Kelly; Joe Rafferty (Joe Powell 70), Shaun McWilliams (Gabriel Biancheri 86), Ar'Jany Martha, Reece James (Brandon Cover 86); Sam Nombe, Harry Gray (Duncan Watmore 70). Subs not used: Cameron Dawson, Emmanuel Adegboyega.
Goals: Agbaire og 76 (Huddersfield)
Referee: Martin Coy (Durham)
Attendance: 16,592