Play it all again ... the EFL deliver their verdict on the rain-hit Rotherham United v Cardiff City clash

Grounds staff work to clear the pitch at New York Stadium after the deluge. Picture by Kerrie Beddows

ROTHERHAM United's abandoned home match against Cardiff City will be replayed in full late next month.

The new date is Tuesday April 25, a fortnight before the Millers' Championship campaign draws to a close.

The original March 18 clash at AESSEAL New York Stadium was called off in the 48th minute when a freak rainstorm left the pitch sodden while the visitors were leading 1-0.

Cardiff and their fans claimed Rotherham didn't make concerted enough attempts to clear water from the surface and wanted the rearranged match to kick off at the same stage as the previous contest with them still a goal in front.

But the second tier's governing body, the EFL, have ruled after a probe into events that afternoon that the new game must be contested in its entirety.

Millers manager Matt Taylor feels the right decision has been made.

He said: "When any match isn't completed there is an investigation. 'Investigation' is quite a strong word. It's basically finding out what happened and why the game needed to be called off before the end of the 90-plus minutes.

"It was pretty obvious in our case that a heavy downpour left the pitch unplayable."

Referee Oliver Langford conducted two inspections before abandoning the encounter around 50 minutes after the players had been taken back to the changing rooms.

The EFL said in a statement: "In respect of this particular fixture, the matter was referred to the EFL board under EFL regulations at the request of the clubs involved.

"The EFL board reviewed submissions from both clubs, giving consideration to factors including the time of the abandonment and the subsequent time remaining in the contest, alongside the differing circumstances at play had the fixture been restarted from that point on a rearranged date.

"In considering matters such as these, the league seeks to adopt consistency with previous occurrences where fixtures have been abandoned for weather-related reasons and could not be restarted."

Rotherham and Cardiff are rivals in the battle for second-tier survival, with the 20th-placed Millers standing one spot above the Bluebirds.