The plan, the boos and the eight-figure galactico ... the story of Rotherham United 0 Birmingham City 2
STEVE Evans had spent the week warning what was on its way to AESSEAL New York Stadium.
Birmingham City were coming to S60: the big-spending Blues with billionaire new owners, the £15-million striker and around £10m worth of other freshly-acquired talent.
The Rotherham United manager had been there in person at their St Andrew's home on Monday night to watch them dismantle leaders Wrexham.
The most complete third-tier side he's witnessed, he said. Capable of 100 points this season, he reckoned.
‘Real Birmingham,’ he tagged them.
The gulf between them and the Millers – both relegated last term – was evident when they did battle on Saturday afternoon.
One was a rebuilt squad still finding its feet in the third tier, the other was a rebuilt squad already playing Championship-quality football in preparation for next season when they are, no doubt, back at the higher level.
“They are the best League One side I’ve ever seen in terms of how they pass and move,” Evans said. “They are a terrific side full of good young players. We have absolutely no excuses today. We couldn’t touch them.”
Neither, in all likelihood, will any other club in the division.
The boss was in the media suite at New York answering questions after a contest that had brought a fifth straight win for the unbeaten visitors.
He spoke quietly, honestly, more subdued than he's been all season. He was polite and gave every question due consideration but wasn't seeking to hang around, keen to get away and analyse a chastening afternoon.
Very unusually for an intense advocate of front-foot football, he had gone for containment over conquering, picking a defensive line-up in a bid to blunt the Blues and particularly that eight-figure galactico of the lower leagues, Jay Stansfield.
An altered formation included three centre-halves and two players who were nominally selected as wing-backs but spent most of their time as full-backs.
That left the Millers light in midfield where Tomoki Iwata and Seung-Ho Paik controlled the game.
Rotherham actually had the better of the opening exchanges but within 22 minutes they were 2-0 down and City's dangerman had scored a goal created by the very thing that the home side's system switch had been meant to prevent.
“We did it to stop those little bendy runs that Stansfield makes,” Evans said. “He's very good at them, it's why he cost a lot of money.
“He does them and finds space. Not one of us tracked him and for a boy of his calibre it's a simple finish.”
‘Simple’ didn't quite do a perfectly-executed lob justice. Willum Willumsson dinked a ball into space and Stansfield's speeding opportunism did the rest.
By then Rotherham were already a goal behind, Iwata having taken advantage of Stansfield's nuisance value to lash a precision 20-yard drive low into the North Stand net in the 14th minute.
Only a flying Dillon Phillips stop prevented Emil Hansson making it 3-0 and Evans acted at the interval, taking off a central defender in favour of an extra midfielder.
“We changed it and we were much better afterwards, much more disciplined,” he said. “We went back to a four in defence and put another player further forward.”
The Millers went into the contest with the division's best stats for pressurising the opposition net but managed only one effort on target, a first-half Jamie McCart header pushed for a corner by Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
“I thought we started really well for the first seven or eight minutes and were looking the most penetrative side,” Evans said. “Then, I think, we were poor in spells and the game becomes dominated by them.”
Defeat dropped Rotherham to 21st spot, another disappointment in a frustrating opening six weeks of the season at odds with the club's promotion aspirations.
Against Birmingham, even allowing for the absolute quality of the visitors, the Millers were nowhere near what they've shown, in patches, that they can be.
City came close to extending their advantage in the second half but Alex Cochrane's vicious, deflected curler following a short free-kick hit the bar and Keshi Anderson somehow failed to convert from point-blank range.
Evans, booked along with Blues boss Chris Davies, queried some perceived yellow-card leniency from the referee towards Blues players but had no issue with Stansfield's goal being allowed to stand.
“He bends his run and he’s onside,” the manager said. “I've got no complaints with that decision.”
He had no complaints with the result either.
“Birmingham are always going to create and make a chance at times,” he said. “We got into several good areas, but this was a day where we never looked like it. They were much better than us and we'll take it straight on the nose.”
There were boos from the home sections of New York at half-time, there were more at the final whistle.
Harsh, but maybe understandable.
Real Birmingham had turned up, the real Rotherham hadn't.
Rotherham (3-4-1-2): Dillon Phillips; Cameron Humphreys (Joe Powell H-T), Sean Raggett, Jamie McCart; Joe Rafferty, Hakeem Odoffin, Christ Tiehi (Jordan Hugill 74), Reece James (Cohen Bramall 74); Mallik Wilks (Joe Hungbo 74); Jonson Clarke-Harris, Sam Nombe. Subs not used: Cameron Dawson, Alex MacDonald, Jack Holmes.
Birmingham (4-2-3-1): Bailey Peacock-Farrell; Taylor Gardner-Hickman (Alfons Sampsted 79), Christoph Klarer, Ben Davies, Alex Cochrane; Tomoki Iwata (Marc Leonard 90), Seung-Ho Paik; Willum Willumsson, Jay Stansfield (Alfie May 79), Emil Hansson (Keshi Anderson 62, 5); Lyndon Dykes (Scott Wright 62, 6). Subs not used: Ryan Allsop, Ayumu Yokoyama.
Goals: Iwata 14, Stansfield 22 (Birmingham).
Referee: Edward Duckworth (Preston).
Attendance: 10,335 (2,168).