Joe Rafferty on goals, comebacks and why Rotherham United's dressing room might just be 'mental'

Then, he cut a frustrated, downcast figure as he fielded questions about how Rotherham United had let a lead slip away on their way to another defeat on the road.

Now, at Northampton Town on Saturday, the captain was, by his own word, “buzzing”.

That's what your first away win of the season can do for you.

“Unbelievable, it's massive for us,” he gushed in his broad Liverpudlian accent on the touchline at Sixfields Stadium a quarter of an hour after the final whistle. “We've been working hard on going out and putting a full performance together.

“Even that wasn't a full performance, but to come from behind shows absolutely brilliant character. I'm absolutely buzzing for the lads.”

The defender hadn't only led his team to victory, he'd also scored the equaliser in the 71st minute that set up Josh Benson for a spectacular late free-kick clincher from 25 yards.

“Yeah, we know Benno can do that,” he said about the midfielder's first goal since his summer arrival. “We see it in training. We've been giving him a little bit of a stick because I think he'd taken about four and not scored.

“The lads on the bench came into the changing room afterwards and said every single one of them fancied him on the free kick. He's a really good player and we know he's got that in his locker. When he got it in that area, we knew there was a good chance.”

The result made it three matches unbeaten for Matt Hamshaw's League One men and Rafferty believes there is more to come from a squad still finding its feet following 13 signings under the new boss.

“We haven't hit anywhere near what we are capable of doing,” he said. “Hopefully this win is the start of it.

“I'm absolutely buzzing for the gaffer. We give everything we've got for him and the staff because they're all incredible. They put hours and hours into doing the job. As players, we all love them and we're all right behind them.”

The goal he scored wasn't quite in the class of his teammate's but was still very well taken and was even more special to the 32-year-old as it was only the second time he'd found the net in the last four years.

Denzel Hall played the ball to Jamal Baptiste who chipped it to the back post where Jordan Hugill's header had the weight and accuracy to set up the Scouser for his big moment.

“All that was going through my mind was ‘Get on the end of it’,” Rafferty said. “I knew that Jordan was going to win it and I knew I wasn't being tracked, so it was just a case of ‘Get in there and slide’. I'd seen the keeper coming out as well. I thought ‘Just slide, it will hit something and go in’.

The player also hit something – he clattered into a post while he watched the ball nestle in the top corner right in front of the travelling supporters.

“I kind of bore that in mind a little bit when we were doing the coin toss,” he said. “I thought ‘Let's have the kick-off and attack the away end in the second half’. And, you know, there's no better feeling than scoring in front of your fans away from home.”

There are encouraging signs that the Millers, after a troubled start to their League One campaign, are heading in the right direction.

“We've had a few punches on the nose, but we took a lot of confidence from the Bradford City game (2-2 October 2 draw at AESSEAL New York Stadium against the then-leaders),” Rafferty said. “I think we should be beating Bradford at home and away.

“I think we should be beating every team in this league, to be totally honest. We have probably had our confidence knocked a little bit, but I think we're still a confident group, we still believe in each other.”

Rotherham could exit the drop zone with a positive result at home to Leyton Orient on Saturday and soon challenge for a mid-table spot. Nobody is expecting a play-off charge in a season of rebuilding.

Well, I say ‘nobody’ ... some people aren't giving up on it.

Unlike Wimbledon. Northampton had made Rafferty anything but frustrated and downcast ...

“We've had quite bad injuries at times,” he said. “We've got players coming back. Maybe we're all mental in there, because we're sitting in 22nd spot in the table after 11 games and we still believe that we can go on and do something with the season.

“I think that shows something about where we are as a group. We believe that we can go and win the next game and hopefully go on a really good run.”