Leam Richardson reveals problems in lead-up to Middlesbrough game as he praises Rotherham United display

The bottom-placed Millers were in sight of their first away victory since November 2022 as they took a second-half lead through Cafu at the Riverside Stadium but were pegged back late on by Marcus Forss's equaliser.

Afterwards, Richardson revealed that his squad had been forced to ditch their Roundwood base in the build-up to the clash because of frozen pitches and train elsewhere.

"I thought the lads worked terrifically hard," he said. "It's been a tough week.

"Credit to the players, we've had to train in fits and starts at certain places, but they took in the information we gave them and came to a really challenging place and gave a good account of themselves."

Had Rotherham hung on for all three points, it would have broken a sequence of 29 successive matches on the road without a victory.

Boro had beaten Premier League Chelsea in their previous home fixture and, despite his frustration at not winning, the Millers head coach, who has been in the hot-seat only since December 11, was satisfied with the 1-1 outcome.

"Any point away from home at this level is golden," Richardson said. "This one came against a team who are doing really well in the league and are in the League Cup semi-finals.

"I thought for large parts of the match we were really competitive."

The Millers had sought out all-weather pitches in the town as they'd prepared for this afternoon's clash on cold, blustery Teesside.

Cafu's strike put them in front and only eight minutes of regulation time remained when Forss restored parity for Michael Carrick's team.

"We stuck to our game-plan and took the lead off the back of the shape we wanted to impose on Middlesbrough," Richardson said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't quite hold out.

"Every goal can be avoided but I certainly can't deny the commitment or the output of the lads."