Rotherham climb out of drop zone after win over Preston

Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2019 by PA

Rotherham climbed out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone with a 2-1 victory over Preston.

The depleted Millers, who had been hit by injuries and suspension over the festive period as well as the recalling of loanee Ryan Manning, could not even fill their bench but managed to battle to a vital win.

A thunderbolt from skipper Will Vaulks and Michael Smith’s header ensured a first win since early November for Paul Warne’s side.

Preston started the game brightly and would have been disappointed not to have taken the lead in a dominant first 20 minutes.

The visitors were the first to have a shot on target with Marek Rodak pushing out Lukas Nmecha’s powerful strike on the angle.

Paul Gallagher then had a decent chance from a free-kick on the edge of the box but Rodak was again on hand to keep the effort out.

An even better opportunity fell to Tom Barkhuizen who was put clean through by the sharpness of Nmecha before dragging his shot wide when one-on-one with Rodak.

Rotherham youngster Ben Wiles had the home side’s first effort with a rasping strike from the edge of the box that Declan Rudd had to tip over the bar.

There was nothing Rudd could do to deny Rotherham a half-time lead. Vaulks’ 25-yard free-kick flew past the Preston goalkeeper into the top of the net in stoppage time.

Rotherham were more buoyant in the second half and Ryan Williams came close to extending their lead after dragging just wide following a swift move.

Preston’s best hope of getting level looked like coming from a set-piece from Gallagher and they came extremely close when he picked out Nmecha but his effort was clawed away by Rodak.

Rotherham made them pay in the 76th minute with half-time substitute Joe Newell bursting down the left flank and picking out Smith to head home at the back post.

This incredibly sprung Preston back into life and they pulled a goal back in the 78th minute through Nmecha, despite Richard Wood’s best efforts to stop the shot crossing the line.

Rotherham’s stand-in right-back Semi Ajayi had to clear off the line from his own man as Smith diverted Nmecha’s cross goalwards in a period of immense pressure.

Dogged Rotherham then managed to survive four minutes of added on time.