Referee at fault. But so are Millers ... on-the-whistle report: Birmingham City 2 Rotherham United 0

Jordan Hugill in action against Birmingham. Picture by Jim Brailsford

ROTHERHAM United were left fuming at the referee yet had only themselves to blame as their three-match unbeaten run came to an end in their Championship clash at Birmingham City this afternoon.

A contentious decision from Geoff Eltringham in the opening period led to the home side doubling their advantage and after the interval the County Durham official refused to give the Millers what looked like a clear penalty.

The visitors could only rue an insipid first-half display that saw them concede twice against opponents who had been without a victory in their last five outings.

They were much better for a spell following the break but by then the damage had been done.

Happily, all the teams in the bottom three lost and Rotherham maintained their eight-point gap to the drop zone even though they slipped two places in the table to 20th.

The Millers found themselves in arrears after only five minutes as Redra Khadra, who'd already looked menacing down the left, cut inside to bend a quality effort beyond Viktor Johansson into the far corner of the net.

Matt Taylor's men were struggling to cope with the home side's early burst and not long afterwards Tahith Chong fired over from close range when he should have hit the target following George Hall's pass.

By the 20-minute mark Rotherham were beginning to threaten although they had yet to test home goalkeeper John Ruddy in any kind of way.

As the rained teemed down at St Andrew's, the Millers had their first effort on goal, a header from Hakeem Odiffin that drifted wide.

They fell further behind in controversial circumstances on 35 minutes when Khadra looked to have run the ball over the byline in his bid to beat Chiedozie Ogbene only for referee Eltringham to decide the last touch had been off the Rotherham player.

It happened right in front of the visiting fans who were still voicing their protests as the ball was swung in and Kevin Long eventually applied the finish.

Three minutes later, with Rotherham continuing to fall woefully below the standards they had set themselves in their previous three outings, Johansson was called into action to keep out dangerman Khadra's low shot.

A free-kick ballooned high over the bar by Tariqe Fosu had summed up the visitors as a first-half attacking force and they trooped in at the break knowing their opponents were worth their two-goal advantage.

Lee Peltier had recovered well enough from a hamstring niggle to take his place in the team but centre-half Bailey Wright (calf) and midfielder Ollie Rathbone (groin) missed out.

New signing Tyler Blackett, another Millers player who once wore Birmingham's colours, was on the bench and came on for his debut.

For the second half, Rotherham switched to three at the back and added a second striker as Jamie Lindsay and Conor Washington replaced Odoffin and Leo Hjelde.

They forced two corners in quick succession but were grateful for Johansson's intervention when Birmingham broke from one of them and George Hall was through on goal.

The corners kept on coming and from one of them Jordan Hugill appeared to be hauled down by Auston Trusty. Eltringham ruled that there had been no infringement.

The Millers were now dominating and Washington brought a superb save from Ruddy with an 18-yard curler that was heading for the top corner.

However, they sting gradually went out of their game and Johansson had to be at his best to deny Scott Hogan, who was clean through, and then beat away a Lukas Jutkiewicz header.

At the end, the away supporters booed Eltringham, but they knew that their team had not done enough on a disappointing day.

Birmingham (4-2-3-1): John Ruddy; Maxime Colin, Kevin Long, Harlee Dean, Auston Trusty; Alfie Chang, Krystian Bielik (Jordan James 32); George Hall (Scott Hogan 79), Tahith Chong (Hannibal Mejbri 79), Reda Khadra (Marc Roberts 79); Lukas Jutkiewicz. Subs not used: Neil Etheridge, Jordan Graham, Emmanuel Longelo.

Rotherham (4-3-3): Viktor Johansson; Wes Harding, Lee Peltier (Tyler Blackett 64), Cameron Humphreys, Leo Hjelde (Conor Washington H-T); Hakeem Odoffin (Jamie Lindsay H-T), Conor Coventry (Georgie Kelly 64), Tariqe Fosu; Chiedozie Ogbene, Jordan Hugill, Shane Ferguson (Cohen Bramall, 64). Subs not used: Josh Vickers, Peter Kioso.

Goals: Khadra 5, Long 35 (Birmingham).

Referee: Geoff Eltringham (County Durham).