The London money, the Millers' lack of threat ... the FA Cup story of Fulham 1 Rotherham United 0

Fulham's stadium is a beautiful ground, some of it listed, one side of it guarded by the River Thames, the other three nestled among terraced housing with West London price tags to make you wince.

But space is at a premium at Craven Cottage and the press box is packed in tight among the home crowd.

“2-0,” forecast one Cottagers fan whose breath I could feel on my back. “3-1,” said his young son before kick-off in the FA Cup third-round tie. “4-0,” reckoned a family friend.

None of them had the Championship Millers holding opposition from the Premier League to a one-goal margin.

“They'll get ‘nowt’,” reckoned Dad who had to explain to Junior what the Yorkshire term meant.

As it turned out, Rotherham never remotely threatened an upset in the competition as their failure to reach the fourth round stretched to 22 years.

But neither did they make life easy for a superior side. They were strong and determined at the back, too limited up front. There were reasons to be encouraged by the effect new boss Leam Richardson is having, areas still to be worked on.

It mirrored, really, what they are in their own division where survival is their only aim.

Meanwhile, a monied following cheered on a monied club. The Millers had one performer in their squad who cost £1 million, Fulham could call on players with eight-figure fees to their name.

“Who's here from the Guardian?” enquired a posh sort as he swept by in an expensive coat.

Not a question I've ever been asked at AESSEAL New York Stadium.

THE MATCH

Seb Revan didn't help matters, it has to be said.

Twenty-three minutes in, the visitors hadn't seen much of the ball but they were comfortable as they held off the Cottagers with the backline obduracy and organisation that Richardson has instilled.

Then, with time to clear, the young Aston Villa loanee tried to dribble out of his own penalty area with disastrous consequences.

It's not what you want against a team that had won six of its ten top-flight outings this term on their own soil, two of them by heavy margins, and had seen off title contenders Arsenal five days earlier.

Harry Wilson robbed the Millers man, setting up Bobby De Cordovo-Reid to put the ball in De net with a lovely 20-yard sweep.

“Listen, that's why Seb's out on loan: to see the picture, to possibly make those mistakes,” said Richardson.

“What I did like about it is that he didn't crumble, he didn't go missing, he still wanted the ball. I demand that players still accept the ball. It's a positive mistake. He'll learn from it and he'll grow as a person.”

There was something much more positive for the Millers soon afterwards when they thought they'd equalised. Tom Eaves did well to beat his man on the right and then got lucky as his intended shot turned into a deadly cross that Jordan Hugill converted.

Sadly, Hugill was offside; not by much but definitely off, and there was no need to call on VAR which was in operation if required.

Fulham pushed and probed and passed, Rotherham resisted and repelled, in control of their own box until a scare just before half-time when Andreas Pereira hit the post and Harrison Reed drove the follow-up wide following a Cottagers break down the right.

After the interval, Sean Morrison covered Viktor Johansson's uncharacteristic fumble with an important block before the goalkeeper redeemed himself with a flying stop to palm away Tosin's powerful header.

“You're always disappointed when you lose,” Richardson said. “Congratulations to Fulham. I wish them well in the next round.

“In large parts we contained them the best we could. You could see the subs that they brought on and the quality they have got.

"In the second half we were better. We got up the pitch a little bit. But then we've got to have those moments of quality in the final third, we know that.

“We've got to do better with the ball into the box at times. We were up against a team that won 5-0 twice in the Premier League last month. Credit to the players for working as hard as they did.”

The Millers were stronger for the introduction of their substitutes and striker Sam Nombe pepped them up by being fast, direct and willing as he and his teammates finally had a nibble at Fulham towards the end.

However, other than the offside effort that wasn't given, they managed no attempt on target.

“A little bit,” said Richardson when he was asked if he was frustrated his side hadn't tested the Cottagers more. “We wanted to up the levels after an hour, which we did.

“In the final third we had a couple of opportunities to put quality into the box - restarts and set-plays - and didn't take them.”

FOCUS ON THE LEAGUE

There was to be no exciting journey to the later rounds of the cup this season, just a long night trip back to a safety scrap for the squad and around 700 travelling fans doing well to reach that number on a wet Friday evening just after the expense of Christmas.

Richardson outlined his blueprint for the rest of the campaign as he bids to turn around the Millers' Championship fortunes and waits for January recruitment.

“I learn a lot about the players every day in training,” he said. “I like positivity. That has to be done individually and then it will filter in collectively.

“We want to create a better quality of chance and take the game further up the pitch. That will come with the quality of player, with more time on the training ground.

“We've got to represent ourselves well with endeavour and hard work and then we've got to add some quality going forward. When we get those moments to win games we've got to take them.”

Not doing so is holding them back in the league and was one of the reasons they lost in knockout competition in the capital.

For all their worthy defending, what had they offered going forward at the Cottage? To partially quote a Fulham fan, pretty much nowt, to be honest.

​Fulham (4-2-3-1): Marek Rodak; Kenny Tete, Tosin, Issa Diop, Timothy Castagne (Antonee Robinson 82); Harrison Reed (Tom Cairney 74), Sasa Lukic; Harry Wilson (Willian 74), Andreas Pereira (Tyrese Francois 82), Bobby De Cordova-Reid; Rodrigo Muniz (Carlos Vinicius 74). Subs not used: Steven Benda, Raul Jimenez, Joao Palhinha, Luc De Fougerolles.

Rotherham (3-5-2): Viktor Johansson; Hakeem Odoffin, Sean Morrison, Seb Revan; Dexter Lembikisa (Appiah 81), Jamie Lindsay, Cafu (Christ Tiehi 64), Sam Clucas (Ollie Rathbone 64), Cohen Bramall (Lee Peltier 55); Jordan Hugill, Tom Eaves (Sam Nombe 64). Subs not used: Dillon Phillips, Tolaji Bola, Georgie Kelly, Ciaran McGuckin.

Goal: De Cordova-Reid 23 (Fulham).

Referee: Simon Hooper (Swindon).

Attendance: 15,083 (690 plus pay on the day).