What a way to end three years of hurt ... Rotherham United boss Steve Evans writes for the Advertiser

It's not every day that you get to see your club put to bed a horrible record that's been hanging over it for more than three years.

Let's hope there are plenty more victories in 3pm Saturday kick-offs to come in the next three seasons!

I'm writing this column before our Tuesday game against Leyton Orient so that's why I'm focusing on the Rovers clash.

The scenes in the away end at the Memorial Stadium following our 3-2 triumph were a sight to behold. I had family from Glasgow in there and they said what a brilliant experience it was. They enjoyed being Millers and living the joy of a late winner.

I'm pleased for every man, woman, boy and girl who came and supported us. Four-hundred people made the noise of 4,000!

They don't get enough credit for how well and how consistently they back us. I promise them, the players and the staff really appreciate it.

We needed to show a reaction after a hugely disappointing loss to Barnsley and that's just what we did.

We understood that the performance in the derby was not at an acceptable level for Rotherham United and the boys worked really hard on the training ground in the build-up to the trip to Bristol. The effort and focus will continue.

What I liked most about our display was the character within the group. We've not had the season we aspired to and we've felt the full wrath of social media.

I don't live in that world. I don't allow myself to go to dark places because of X and Facebook, I go to dark places because of poor performances and results.

However, a lot of our players are young with young partners and part of a generation for whom social media plays a large part in their lives.

They've been smashed from pillar to post at times and have had to have the courage to rise above it.

The headlines deservedly went to Sam Nombe for bagging two of the goals, but everyone played their part in our win.

Some credit must go to our skipper, Jonson Clarke-Harris, who is still adored at Rovers for his scoring exploits with them earlier in his career.

He used his recent spell out injured to lose six kilos in weight and get himself in really good shape and our fans witnessed a Jonno-esque performance last weekend.

I was also really impressed by Joe Powell. He was poor against Barnsley, when his quality was way off it, but was back to his best in the south west.

He put in a terrific ball in for Zak Jules' goal and an even better one for big Josh Kayode to have a great header and set up Sam's match-clinching goal.

It was good to see Josh, a boy who's been discarded at the club for two or three years, making such an important contribution.

As for Zak, he had a thigh strain during the week and at one stage it looked like there was little chance he would play.

He wasn't training on the Thursday and his participation seemed in real doubt yet he stood up like a big tiger, a lion, and said: ‘Pick me, Gaffer, I'll be okay.’

As for me, it was good to wake up on Sunday morning after a night of uninterrupted sleep.

But back to those supporters ... they are the salt of the earth and it is my sole aim to make them love the Millers even more.

It was a nice journey back up the M5 for good people who've travelled for three seasons on Saturdays even when they've probably not really fancied making the journeys.

When we get this project right – and we will – they'll look forward to their trips a lot more.

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VIKTOR Johansson was an unbelievable goalkeeper for Rotherham United and it was a privilege to have him in my squad for a short while when I first came back for a second spell in the Millers hot-seat.

But, as good as he is, he's not quite the best number one I've ever worked with.

That accolade has to go to Emilio Martinez who had a loan spell at New York Stadium when we built on successive promotions to win our battle for Championship survival back in 2015.

Emi went on to win the World Cup with Argentina and is now playing Champions League football for Aston Villa.

He wasn't with us for long but he played a vital role in us staying up.

I'm talking about keepers because I want to pay tribute to the man between the sticks for us this term, Dillon Phillips.

I think many people expected Cameron Dawson to be our first-choice shot-stopper but Dillon has won the battle for the shirt and has played exceptionally well.

There's never been a doubt about his ability in my mind. He just had to wait for his opportunity. He's come in and had a really good presence about him.

Dillon would have played more last season but for the excellence of Viktor the Viking who is now adding to his reputation with his exploits for Stoke City in the second tier.

Viktor, I reckon, is destined for great things.

I'm hearing from my sources that he could be off in the summer to even higher pastures. That does not surprise me at all.

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THEY thought I might cancel on them, but there was no way I was going to let them down.

I'm referring to the Mature Millers group whose company I had the great pleasure of a week last Monday.

We'd lost against Barnsley two days earlier and, honestly, I don't think they expected me to turn up.

However, you simply can't pull out of a commitment that you've made to valued supporters. You have to front up when times aren't so good.

They asked excellent, tough questions – and rightly so after the up-and-down season we've had – but I left that meeting feeling how a Millers manager should feel: respected and appreciated.

I spent around an hour and a half with them and I think they appreciated the openness of my answers and my commitment to the task of getting this club back to where it belongs.

We need to win games for them and all of our other fantastic followers.

I always keep in mind something our chairman, Tony Stewart, often says to me: he might be the owner of the club but the true custodians are the fans.