Long balls, long faces and cause for Christmas concern ... the story of Rotherham United 1 Huddersfield Town 3
TWO hours after the final whistle, AESSEAL New York Stadium was pretty much in blackness.
A tree decked with fairy lights, somewhere between the car-park and the walk up the steps towards reception, offered the only sparkle.
It had been a dark afternoon for Rotherham United in the last home game of 2025, the final match before the Yuletide schedule really kicks in.
Saturday brought a third loss in three games and a slide closer to League One's drop zone when just a few weeks ago the play-off places looked nearer.
Every time opponents Huddersfield Town launched a long ball, the Millers' defence was torn apart like a Christmas cracker.
The sole touch of glitter came from fit-again Sam Nombe, but the substitute's superb finish didn't arrive until the dying seconds. Too little, too late.
By then, two of Rotherham's three-man rearguard had long been back in the dugout after being hauled off at half-time when the visitors were already a trio of goals in command.
“It's just not good enough, Mate,” said boss Matt Hamshaw, managing to remain cordial through gritted teeth and a sense of despair at what he'd just witnessed.
“It's infuriating because we've done it now in the last three first halves. We know what we're capable of doing and we've fallen well below the standard that we've set.
“Today, and in a few other first halves, we've just given schoolboy goals away.”
There had been little to choose between the sides until the 26th minute when Bojan Radulovic set up Lynden Gooch for the opener and then, four minutes later, took advantage of the freedom of New York to deftly lob Cameron Dawson.
The labouring Liam Kelly's loss of possession had been a contributing factor to the second goal and Thomas Holmes' error close to the interval was just as glaring.
He left his man, missed his header and Leo Castledine showed the centre-half how to put cranium to ball in the act of scoring the third.
The Millers thought they'd taken a nine-minute lead through Denzel Hall's back-post conversion of Joe Powell's corner but referee Matthew Russell reckoned he'd spotted an infringement.
Not many others – including some Huddersfield players, according to Hamwhaw – did.
The interval brought a cacophony of discord from the home sections of the ground. There was less dissension after a second period in which the visitors were kept goalless but only because so many spectators had opted for an early getaway.
“Listen, I'd boo,” said Hamshaw. “I'm not going to sit here and say it was good. I'd boo, I get it. But throw that at me, don't throw it at the players.”
For now, the rebuild has stalled.
”We'll get back as a club, we'll get back to where we should be,” the manager added. ”But there are a number of things that I'm not going to openly talk about here that need to change. We'll get there.”
Rotherham were better for the introduction of Hamish Douglas and Zak Jules in defence and Nombe and another returning frontman, Kion Etete, in attack.
Yet the best sight of goal in the second half, until super-Sam did his stuff, fell to Town sub Dion Charles who was foiled by Dawson's sharpness.
“Today, any team would beat us, because we just couldn't deal with long balls,” Hamshaw lamented. “Huddersfield aren't a long-ball team. Every bit of research I've done on them shows that they play out.
“They didn't play out once until the 70th minute. It's quite obvious what their tactic was, and they've got it right, so fair play to them. But it's poor from us that we couldn't deal with it.”
Nombe – who, if Rotherham are to prosper, has to stay fit and play alongside the January striker arrival Hamshaw is targeting – must have been paying attention to a Chris Rea song playing over the New York PA system during the warm-up.
There he was, in the fifth minute of added time, showing poise and balance and driving home for Christmas from just inside the penalty area in front of the North Stand.
It was a quality strike from a quality player who has been sorely missed.
A pity, then, that there was hardly anyone of a Millers persuasion left to see it. Santa was a more likely red-and-white presence than a supporter still in his or her seat by that stage.
Rotherham stuttered at the start of the season, came tantalisingly good for two months and now find themselves stuck in their form of old. The transfer window can't come soon enough.
“There are certain aspects and days this season that I've been really frustrated with,” Hamshaw said. ”Today is one of them, because we've handed Huddersfield the game. – there are no two ways about that.
“They haven't really done a lot to win the game. That's what narks me. If teams come here, take three points off us and are miles better than us, I'll be first to say: ‘We couldn't live with them, we couldn't stop them.’ That wasn't the case today, we beat ourselves.”
At 7pm, mist was adding to the gloom as the final few stragglers made their way out of New York. That nine-match unbeaten run and hope of a top-six push suddenly seemed a long time ago.
The twinkling fairy lights continued to blink against the night.
Off, on, then off again – an unwitting festive metaphor for the Millers' campaign so far.
Rotherham (3-4-3): Cameron Dawson; Joe Rafferty (Zak Jules H-T), Thomas Holmes (Hamish Douglas H-T), Jamal Baptiste; Denzel Hall, Liam Kelly (Dru Yearwood H-T), Dan Gore, Marvin Kaleta (Sam Nombe 59); Ar'Jany Martha, Jordan Hugill (Kion Etete 74), Joe Powell. Subs not used: Ted Cann, Sean Raggett.
Huddersfield (3-1-4-2): Lee Nicholls; Radinio Balker, Joe Low, Murray Wallace; Ryan Ledson; Lynden Gooch (Lasse Sorensen 74), Marcus Harness (David Kasumu 59), Leo Castledine (Ben Wiles 59), Sean Roughan; Alfie May (Dion Charles 74), Bojan Radulovic. Subs not used: Owen Goodman, Ruben Roosken, Cameron Ashia.
Goals: Gooch 27, Radulovic 30, Castledine 43 (Huddersfield); Nombe 90+5 (Rotherham)
Referee: Matthew Russell
Attendance: 9,514 (1,866)