Viktor Johansson sets tone for horror night ... on-the-whistle report: Coventry City 5 Rotherham United 0

Viktor Johansson, arguably the best goalkeeper in the Championship, had made a terrible mistake.

The Swede was the last player you'd expect to err in Rotherham United colours but his blunder had just left his side a goal down after only five minutes against a Coventry City side who haven't given up hope of a play-off spot.

He caught a cross and then, after a second, inexplicably dropped the ball straight into the path of Ellis Simms who headed home.

Johansson acknowledged his sorrow to boss Leam Richardson, he signalled his contrition to the Millers away contingent at the other end of the CBS Arena.

The bottom-placed visitors were on their way to an eighth straight defeat in a season that can't end soon enough.

And worse was to follow.

Rotherham, low on numbers and even lower in confidence, almost hit back quickly with an unlikely equaliser but Hakeem Odoffin failed to get his head on Chris Tiehi's cross right in front of goal.

Then the Sky Blues turned an already-bad Millers evening into a nightmare.

On 22 minutes, Joel Latibeaudiere rose unchecked to head in a corner.

In the 27th minute, Simms shot into the corner.

Nine minutes later, the striker completed his hat-trick with a curling effort from the edge of the area.

Rotherham were able to call on only one fit recognised centre-half in Cameron Humphreys as they made three changes to the side that lost to derby rivals Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend.

Lee Peltier was ruled out after limping off against the Owls and Tom Eaves and Sam Clucas dropped to the bench, with Cafu, Jamie Lindsay and Jordan Hugill coming in.

Seb Revan and Ollie Rathbone were back in contention after hip and concussion issues respectively and took their places on an eight-man bench as injuries once again prevented the Millers naming a full complement of substitutes.

Revan had come on just after the half-hour mark in what looked like a tactical substitution for Shane Ferguson.

Peter Kioso fired over seven minutes after the restart and the suffering travelling supporters greeted Rotherham's first effort on goal with chants of: “We've had a shot.”

Milan van Ewijk headed off target for Coventry when he should have made it 5-0 from fellow sub Matt Godden's cross on the hour mark but, thankfully for the Millers, some of the intensity had now gone out of the home side's play.

The minutes ticked down on the worst performance of Richardson's three-month reign.

Johansson showed his true self by pulling off a superb save from Matt Godden’s header but couldn’t keep out Fabio Tavares’ 90th-minute shot.

At last, the final whistle sounded. The gap to safety remained at 19 points.

The keeper’s apology seemed a long time ago on a sorry, sorry, night.

Coventry (4-3-3): Brad Collins; Joel Latibeaudiere, Liam Kitching, Bobby Thomas, Jake Bidwell; Josh Eccles (Milan van Ewijk 58), Victor Torp (Kai Andrews 88), Liam Kelly; Kasey Palmer (Callum O'Hare 58), Ellis Simms (Fabio Tavares 82), Haji Wright (Matt Godden 58). Subs not used: Ben Wilson, Luis Binks, Jay Dasilva, Dermi Lusala.

Rotherham (3-5-2): Viktor Johansson; Peter Kioso (Femi Seriki 83), Cameron Humphreys, Hakeem Odoffin; Andy Rinomhota (Sam Clucas 72), Jamie Lindsay, Cafu, Christ Tiehi, Shane Ferguson (Seb Revan 33); Sam Nombe (Arvin Appiah), Jordan Hugill (Charlie Wyke 72). Subs not used: Dillon Phillips, Ollie Rathbone, Tom Eaves.

Goals: Simms 5, 27, 36, Latibeaudiere 22, Tavares 90 (Coventry).

Referee: John Busby (Oxfordshire).

Attendance: 22,092.