Reflections, ratings and boss Matt Taylor's reaction to Millwall 3 Rotherham United 0

The last eight miles of Monopoly-board names on the long Wednesday journey from South Yorkshire to the New Den took well over an hour to negotiate.

Marylebone, Euston, Old Kent Road. The rain lashed down, an ill wind blew. Eventually, a game kicked off.

The two-hundred-and-fifty-nine travelling fans wished it hadn't.

For the second time in five days, the 21st-placed Millers played like a relegation team away from home. First Huddersfield Town, now Millwall. Four successive league losses on their travels isn't how they wanted to open their Championship campaign.

Bartosz Bialkowski in the Lions net made less saves than he has 'B's and 'I's in his name. Much has changed in only two matches since that wonderful victory over Norwich City.

"It was similar to the weekend really," said manager Matt Taylor. "We were second best in too many physical moments. The first contacts went their way more than ours."

The boss had forsaken 4-3-3 to go 3-5-2 as he handed first starts to striker Sam Nombe, midfielder Sam Clucas and wing-back Sebastian Revan and paired the club's record signing up front with Jordan Hugill.

Nombe was off by the beginning of the second half as Taylor switched back to the old shape in a vain bid to stem the home team's flow.

"When you play away at Millwall you've got to have certain platforms on the pitch," he said. "We felt Sam and Jordan would be a handful. They didn't get the service."

Ryan Longman had stepped inside from the left to fire in a stunning opener on 27 minutes and Rotherham were lucky to be only a goal down at the break as Tom Bradshaw, Kevin Nisbet, Casper De Norre and Zian Flemming could all have added to the advantage.

Fred Onyedinma, playing against his former side, might have offered the Millers a 'get out of jail free' card within minutes of the restart but his low curler into the far corner following a tenacious thrust from Ollie Rathbone was ruled out for offside.

On 58 minutes, Millwall scored again, a cold blow indeed at the Cold Blow Lane kop end as Flemming was afforded cheap space to kill the contest with a firm shot.

"The second half was better but their second goal is where we are at the moment," said Taylor. "It kind of came out of nowhere. It wasn't a difficult position to defend and suddenly the ball is in the back of our net."

Rotherham were gone and the only surprise was that the third goal, smacked in from close range by Bradshaw, took until stoppage time to arrive. By then the hosts could have been four clear.

"It comes down to standing up to an opposition in one-v-one moments and forcing them outside as opposed to letting them come inside," Taylor said. "I could go on with the details but at the moment all those little moments are just making us into a poorer team away from home."

There were a lot of moments in that paragraph and there were a lot of moments in the match.

At the end, Millers players briefly acknowledged the crowd and the acknowledgement they got back ranged from non-existent to muted to fractious.

As I departed the media suite, a row of Millwall reporters were sat killing time as they waited for the arrival of Lions boss Gary Rowett.

"That lot beat Norwich the other week," one informed another, and his tone of incredulity said everything about the manner in which the visitors had just played.

Rotherham supporters headed back out towards the Monopoly roads on a dark, dank night during which their team never passed Go.

Millwall (3-5-2): Bartiosz Bialkowski 6; Ryan Leonard 7, Jake Cooper 8, Murray Wallace 8; Brooke Norton-Cuffy 8 (Danny McNamara 82), Allan Campbell 7 (George Saville 70), Casper De Norre 7, Zian Flemming 8, Ryan Longman 8 (Joe Bryan 70); Kevin Nisbet 6 (Duncan Watmore 55, 6), Tom Bradshaw 8. Subs not used: Connal Trueman, Billy Mitchell, Aidomo Emakhu, Romain Esse, Wes Harding.

Rotherham (3-5-2): Viktor Johansson 6; Dexter Lembikisa 4, Cameron Humphreys 4, Tyler Blackett 5; Fred Onyedinma 4, Ollie Rathbone 6, Christ Tiehi 6, Sam Clucas 5 (Hakeem Odoffin H-T, 6), Sebastian Revan 4 (Arvin Appiah 73); Sam Nombe 4 (Andre Green H-T, 4), Jordan Hugill 4 (Tom Eaves 66, 5). Subs not used: Dillon Phillips, Hamish Douglas, Georgie Kelly, Ciaran McGuckin.

Goals: Longman 27, Flemming 58, Bradshaw 90+3 (Millwall).

Referee: Geoff Eltringham (Tyne and Wear).

Attendance: 12,563 (259).