Leam Richardson pleased for Rotherham players and fans after rare win

Posted Tuesday, April 02, 2024 by PA

Rotherham head coach Leam Richardson was pleased for his players as they battled to only their fourth league win of the season with a 2-1 triumph over Millwall.

Loanee frontman Charlie Wyke scored the winner with four minutes left to ensure Rotherham staved off relegation for at least another week.

It was the Millers’ first win since Boxing Day and only their second under Richardson.

The victory, coupled with Plymouth’s loss, helped preserve Rotherham’s status for at least one more game but they are 18 points adrift with only that many points left to play for and a wildly inferior goal difference.

Rotherham had gone in front through Seb Revan’s powerful strike, his first senior goal, but a scrappy effort from substitute Ryan Longman levelled the scores up.

Millwall then pushed for the winner but were sucker-punched when Wyke got on the end of Revan’s cross and buried a header beyond Matija Sarkic.

Richardson said: “Millwall are going to bring certain things to the table and we had to match that. We did that in large parts.

“I am pleased for certain players who have kept themselves available and put themselves out there in many situations where some wouldn’t.

“I am pleased for the fans, it’s easy to say that, but they do live and breathe it. They have seen a competitive display.

“As a club we need to come together and become a better version of ourselves.

“I was made up for Seb. Because he is learning and seeing things for the first time. He has kept himself going and available.

“Many people in January turned their nose up to the challenge (of joining) but Charlie took the challenge on and wanted to be part of it. Credit to him because he deserved the goal too.

“We need to go into the summer with some sort of momentum. The main thing is we are very aware of what we are doing. We are doing a rebuild.”

Millwall created a host of chances either side of the break but found Millers’ star man Viktor Johansson in inspired form.

Millwall head coach Neil Harris was frustrated and his team are now just four points above the drop zone.

He said: “We threw it away. We were the better team and created the most chances.

“We certainly controlled the second half. The first half was very scrappy.

“I thought we created numerous chances and they scored two goals against the run of play.

“When you get back to 1-1 and you’re controlling the game and created chance after chance, what you can’t do is throw it away. Ultimately, Rotherham did not win the game, we lost it.

“The positives I can take is that chances were created and the character we showed after going behind.

“We did not wilt, we pushed forwards to go for it. We just did not do the basics right defensively.

“That is the first time I have said that since I’ve come back. We let ourselves down.

“What it shows is every point is vital. It was a strong opportunity for us against a team below us on a poor run of form but football’s football.

“Ultimately we did enough to win two games. But we weren’t clinical and ruthless at one end and at the other end we were too soft and conceded two poor goals.”