Relegation on its way ... on-the-whistle report: Port Vale 1 Rotherham United 0
A PHOTOGRAPH of Port Vale's most famous fan, Robbie Williams, was on a stadium wall as Rotherham United arrived for a game they simply had to win to keep alive their faint hopes of surviving in League One this term.
“Let me entertain you,” the singer had once crooned.
The 22nd-placed Millers took little heed as they slipped to a spirit-sapping defeat against one of only two teams below them in the table.
Following tonight's loss at Vale Park, they stand 11 points from safety with only six matches left in which to make a virtually impossible climb out of the drop zone.
There was a second-half improvement from the visitors but not a big enough one to produce the result they needed.
Rotherham found themselves a goal down after just six minutes and it was all of their own doing as they twice spurned chances to clear the danger before Ryan Croasdale found the bottom corner with a bouncing shot.
Soon afterwards, Sam Nombe broke down the right and his goalbound clip was kept out by the raised arm of the diving Joe Gauci.
Three-hundred-and-fifty hardy souls had made the trip to Staffordshire to cheer on their side and they had little to shout about as the game continued with no further threats at either end.
Vale had been humbled 7-0 in the FA Cup quarter-finals three days earlier by Premier League Chelsea but, despite their exertions in West London, were still looking sharper than the visitors.
Former Millers loanee Martin Sherif was sprung clear and Rotherham were relieved to see him blaze a great opening over the bar.
They had another escape in first-half stoppage time when George Hall won the race for the ball down the right and, having being presented with an open net by goalkeeper Ted Cann's slip, stroked his attempt wide.
The break couldn't come soon enough for Lee Clark's team who had been second best from kick-off.
Rotherham had made three changes to the side that had started Good Friday's goalless draw with Stevenage.
With Lenny Agbaire being kept out by the knee he injury he sustained in that match, Jamal Baptiste returned to the backline while Josh Benson replaced the suspended Dan Gore in midfield and Ar'Jany Martha was preferred to Jack Holmes on the right flank.
There were two familiar faces in the Vale line-up: Sherif and old boy Cameron Humphreys who spent three years in S60 between 2022 and 2025.
Early in the second half, superb feet from Harry brought the young loanee a sight of goal but his shot was blocked, Duncan Watmore
dinked an effort inches wide and Benson fired a free-kick into the arms of Gauci.
The Millers were showing more urgency as they enjoyed a spell on top and Nombe should have done better with a close-range header than direct it tamely at the keeper.
Their period of dominance came and went and Cann had to tip over Ben Garrity’s 75th-minute header to keep his team in the contest before another header, this time from Jayden Stockley, flashed wide of the post.
As the clock ticked down, Liam Kelly saw his header saved, Gray volleyed too high and Nombe’s late, late header was held by Gauci. That would turn out to be Rotherham’s last throw of the dice.
Superstar Williams, by the way, was sporting a big grin in his picture.
There were no smiles at all in the Millers camp on a grim evening when their relegation fate was all but sealed.
Port Vale (4-2-3-1): Joe Gauci; Jordan Gabriel, Kyle John, Cameron Humphreys, Liam Gordon (Connor Hall); Ryan Croasdale (Jayden Stockley 61), Rhys Walters; George Hall (Eli Campbell 88), Ben Garrity, Ethon Archer (Andre Gray 61); Martin Sherif (Ben Waine 61). Subs not used: Ben Amos, Jordan Shipley.
Rotherham (4-2-3-1): Ted Cann; Joe Rafferty (Denzel Hall 72), Jamal Baptiste, Zak Jules, Reece James; Liam Kelly, Josh Benson; Ar'Jany Martha (Gabriele Biancheri 63), Duncan Watmore (Jack Holmes 77), Harry Gray; Sam Nombe. Subs not used: Ben Childs, Brandon Cover, Hamish Douglas Josh Ayres.
Goals: Croasdale 6 (Port Vale)
Referee: Ross Joyce (Teesside)
Attendance: 4,523 (350)