The comeback and a mug for Joe Mattock ... The story of Rotherham United 1 Reading 1

MANAGER Paul Warne wasn't buying a round at the after-match Chairman's Ball on Saturday night but Joe Mattock didn't mind at all.
Joe Mattock scores. Picture: Steve MettamJoe Mattock scores. Picture: Steve Mettam
Joe Mattock scores. Picture: Steve Mettam

The Rotherham United left-back, the unlikely Millers saviour, the man who rescued a valuable Championship point in the dying minutes against Reading, had a different drink on his mind.

Mattock's first goal of the season earns him a special mug from his manager and he can't wait for his next coffee at the club's Roundwood complex.

"All the players who score a goal get a mug off me once they've sent me a photo so they have their own mug at the training ground," said Warne, angered by his side's tepid display before the break and encouraged by their fightback after it in equal measure.

"I honestly didn't think I'd be buying Joe a mug. I won't be getting anyone a drink tonight. You know me better than that. I might speak to the finance director and see if she'd like to."

Caffeine fan Mattock acknowledged: "It was a bad performance in the first half but a very good performance from the lads in the second half."

After a run of seven draws in nine games, 20th-placed Rotherham had targeted a match at AESSEAL New York Stadium against a team below them in the table as a big chance for three points.

But the image of the opening period was midfielder Will Vaulks bellowing with fist-clenched frustration into the driving rain as the Royals took a ninth-minute lead and bossed proceedings.

Half-time couldn't come soon enough.

THE INTERVAL

Warne knew he had to act and he did.

Skippy, nippy Reading trio Sam Baldock, John Swift and Josh Simms had opened up the Millers' defence too many times while up front the home side weren't getting men around Michael Smith who was winning everything in the air.

Centre-half Richard Wood and 'No 10' Ryan Williams paid the price as Clark Robertson and Jamie Proctor replaced them.

"I wasn't happy with anyone in the first half," Warne said. "I don't like taking people off at half-time but we had to change something.​ I said it to their faces, I could have made 10 changes at half-time.

Joe Newell crosses

"Both players, by the way, took it amazingly. Both were there at the end of the game shaking everyone's hand. The spirit in the camp is a joke. It's not about individuals, it's about the team ethic.

"I'm not here to dig the two out. It could have been any of them. I thought those substitutions would have the biggest influence."

With no thoughts of a mug for Mattock at this stage, the boss could have been forgiven for kicking a couple of cups around the dressing room but he kept his composure.

"Ironically, I was pretty calm at half-time," he revealed. "It's like when you tell your kids off and you're that cross that you become calm again. It was like a serial-killer whisper. It was more like that than a rant.

"I said to them: 'That isn't us, that isn't what we stand for, that isn't what we accept.'"

THE GAME

The stats showed 26 attempts on goal for Rotherham, the vast majority of which came after Warne's interval intervention.

Baldock had fired the visitors in front and missed two other inviting opportunities, Swift had shot wide and been denied by a crucial Marek Rodak save and Garath McCleary had been kept at bay on the break by excellent covering from Zak Vyner.

A different Millers emerged for the second half: front-foot Millers, have-a-go-Millers, run-everywhere Millers, throw-the-ball-into the-box Millers, the Millers everyone has come to expect at New York.

There were sporadic Royals counter-attacks and Simms hit the outside of the post in the 69th minute, but Rotherham pressure mounted. And mounted.

A Richie Towell shot was saved, Robertson poked wide at the back post, Smith put a mistimed header over the bar, Vaulks caught a volley so flush that Anssi Jaakkola's instinctive stop was more self-preservation than save, Proctor tried his luck after a great turn, Vaulks chipped over, Proctor just failed to connect with Joe Newell's cross and Vaulks' header was cleared off the line.

"The lads here are brilliant," Warne said. "I idolise these lads. They understand what we want from them and they're as disappointed as we are when they don't deliver.

"We're all in it together. I asked them to cross the ball in the second half, get the centre-forwards in the middle of the goal and have a right go."

In the 90th minute, Joe had his go.

Mattock went forward for Newell's corner and when Semi Ajayi's header got a touch off Robertson the full-back was in the right place virtually on the goalline in front of the kop.

"I was just watching the ball bounce around - it was flying around," he said. "I watched it come to me and slotted it into the bottom corner."

Warne said: "With the amount of chances we had in the second half, I thought we deserved a goal. Our set-pieces were excellent. We were putting them into good areas and there were a lot of goalmouth clearances.

"I'm just thinking it's not going to be our day and then a hero steps up. For Joe to score from an inch is hugely impressive and the mug will cheer him up no end."

There was just time for Vaulks to send a shot agonisingly wide before the final whistle.

Mattock is becoming a specialist in late drama. His previous goal had been a stoppage-time winner against Portsmouth in last season's promotion campaign.

"I have a last-minute knack," he grinned. "I'm looking forward to the mug. It’s nice for it to be recognised that I can score goals as well as defend them."

Warne's men remain three points clear of the drop zone, punching above their weight, the only concern that so many draws are keeping them from the place higher in the table that they deserve.

They can't quite get a win but they never know when they're beaten.

"There was importance to this game because losing to them would have dragged us into a dogfight and would have given them a boost," the manager acknowledged.

"But there are a lot of games to go. If we fall into the bottom three or four we will just have to fight our way out.​ I have no issue with that.

"I do have an issue with our first-half performance. That wasn't us. The second half was us. The second half was us trying to get the goals."

Mattock provided sweet relief. How sweet? Someone stick a coffee in his mug, please. Three sugars.

Rotherham (4-4-1-1): Marek Rodak; Zak Vyner, Semi Ajayi, Richard Wood, Joe Mattock; Anthony Forde, Will Vaulks, Richie Towell, Jon Taylor; Ryan Williams; Michael Smith. Subs not used: Lewis Price, Matt Palmer, Ben Wiles, Ryan Manning.

Subs: Clark Robertson (for Wood, H-T), Jamie Proctor (for Williams, H-T), Joe Newell (for Tayor, 68 minutes).

Reading (4-3-2-1): Anssi Jaakkola; Chris Gunter, Tyler Blackett, Tom McIntyre, Andy Yiadom; John Swift, Leandro Bacuna, Andy Rinomhota; Josh Sims, Garath McCleary; Sam Baldock. Subs not used: Vito Mannone, Dave Edwards, Modou Barrow, Liam Kelly, Gabriel Osho.

Subs: John Dadi Bodvarsson (for Baldock, 79), Danny Loader (for Sims, 87).

Goals: Mattock 90 (Rotherham); Baldock 9 (Reading).

Referee: Ross Joyce (Cleveland).

Attendance: 8,775 (433).