Nothing festive, just embarrassment ... on-the-whistle report: Rotherham United 1 Huddersfield Town 3

For the second game in succession on their own soil, they suffered a heavy loss and, having been threatening the play-off places earlier this month, are now only a point above the League One drop zone.

Their first-half display this afternoon, in the first match of the Christmas programme, was a horror show, leaving them no way back into the contest.

Boos rang out at half-time and at the final whistle as error after error gave Huddersfield Town their easiest win of the campaign.

A well-hit last-gasp consolation from fit-again Sam Nombe was the only positive note.

The Millers had the ball in the net after nine minutes when Denzel Hall met Joe Powell's corner at the back post but the referee blew for a Jordan Hugill infringement on Ryan Ledson.

The visitors' first attempt on goal saw Cameron Dawson make an easy save from Bojan Radulovic's header.

Rotherham kicked off in 16th spot and Huddersfield seven places higher, but only four points separated the sides.

There was little to choose between them until the 26th minute when good control and pass from Radulovic set up Lynden Gooch for the opener.

“How sh*t must you be, we're winning away,” chanted the Town fans who were even more delighted four minutes later when the home team failed to deal with a long ball, leaving the creator of the first goal free to lob Dawson.

The move had stemmed from Liam Kelly, in the starting 11 for the injured Kian Spence, losing the ball in a promising position for Rotherham.

Another error contributed to the deficit increasing further close to the break when Thomas Holmes missed a header and Town's Leo Castledine didn't miss his.

Rotherham had been operating with only one available striker for several weeks so it was a huge boost to see star man Nombe and loanee Kion Etete back in the squad after injury.

Both were on the bench and poised for second-half action.

Centre-half Zak Jules was also in the matchday 18, following a near-two-month absence with a hamstring issue.

In the Huddersfield squad was New York old boy Ben Wiles who won two third-tier promotions during his time with his boyhood club.

Manager Matt Hamshaw rang the changes at the interval after such an inept showing, bringing off two of three-man backline, Joe Rafferty and Holmes, and the labouring Kelly.

A mishit effort from Dan Gore straight into the arms of goalkeeper Lee Nicholls was the closest his side came to mustering a response in the opening stages of the second period.

And a wild misfire from Ar'Jarny and an off-target free-kick from Powell was as good as it as the contest progressed.

Huddersfield were content to protect their lead and the Rotherham, even after Nombe's introduction, didn't have enough about them to break the visitors down.

Many home fans had seen enough by half-time and a further exodus afterwards led to even more empty seats around three sides of the ground.

As the clock began to tick down, Dawson prevented even more embarrassment by denying Dion Charles who had just entered the fray.

The Millers, now on a run of three successive defeats, slipped two places in the table in a Yuletide fixture that offered nothing but concern and zero festive cheer.

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 26, Radulovic 30, Castledine 43 (Huddersfield); Nombe 90+5 (Rotherham)

Referee: Matthew Russell

Attendance: 9,514 (1,866)