Rotherham United 0 - West Bromwich Albion 2

Date:	Tuesday 12th December 2023
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Rotherham: 4.1	(4-3-3) Johansson, Lembikisa, Morrison, Odoffin, Revan, Lindsay (Hall, 70), Tiéhi, Rathbone (Eaves, 92), Appiah (Nombe, 70), Hugill (Kelly, 84), Bramall Unused subs: Phillips, Peltier, McGuckin
WBA: 6.5	(4-2-3-1) Palmer 6.8, Furlong 5.8 (Ajayi, 92 6.2), Bartley 6.5, Kipré 8.0, Townsend 6.8, Yokuslu 7.1 (Chalobah, 92 5.3), Mowatt 6.7, Diangana 6.4 (Fellows, 66 6.7), Molumby 5.6 (Wallace, 66 7.5), Sarmiento 5.6 (Ávila Gordón, 79 6.1), Thomas-Asante 5.5 Unused subs: Griffiths, Pieters, Swift, Reach Manager: Carlos Corberán 6.7
Scorers:	Diangana (54), Wallace (90)
Referee:	Samuel Barrott 5.7
Attendance:	9,567 Home Fans 3.9 Away Fans 8.1

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Ratings submitted so far: 12

Brendan Clegg:

After the disappointment at the weekend and the loss of the promising Maja I thought tonight was really a key game in our season. Go up there to tough it out and get win and it would boost our credentials and give everyone involved that belief that we can stay in the top 6. Lose and it would give everyone that doubt and show us up to not quite have the minerals.

And you’d have to say following the win it was test passed. We did just enough.

The starting 11 made total sense to me. This was always going to be about standing up physically and grafting so Molumby in for a solid centre midfield without much flair was an understandable way to begin… and I hope Swift gets a bit of a reminder that you’ve really got to relentlessly work hard and fight to get minutes.

The first half was a shocker. Nothing to report other than our defence and Okay looked really up for the fight, and that having sussed Rotherham out it was probably worth a gamble in getting someone like Fellows on at half time for Molumby.

It didn’t happen but we began the 2nd half with a bit more ambition. First, after a decent move, Molumby swung at a volley and sliced what was a really good opening.

His blushes were spared not long after as another decent move and cross was partially cleared before Grady hit an unclean effort that was definitely going to ask the keeper a question before a deflection helped it in.

After the goal the Millers had a spell without hurting us too much and then with the introduction of Jed and Fellows I thought we looked more threatening.

The time ticked down and Pipa came on for a useful cameo, looking technically good and physically comfortable.

At the death Mowatt won a free kick right on the edge of the box and Wallace did exactly what you want - lamped it on target at haircut height over the wall and it crashed in off the underside of the bar. Lovely stuff.

Very good result, Wallace back is a big bonus, we need to follow it up on Sunday at 12pm - the worst kickoff time and day with atmospheres always crap and amateur/kids football ruined for loads of local teams. It shouldn’t be allowed.

Palmer - 6 Another clean sheet. Reliable.
Furlong - 7 Managed the game really well after such an early booking.
Bartley - 7 Rock solid. Loved it.
Kipre - 7 Superb again, has come on so much under CC.
Townsend - 7 Better, was also up for the scrap.
Yok - 7 Powerhouse in the middle. We missed him so much against Sunderland.
Mowatt - 6 Ticked us over.
Grady - 6 Got the goal and showed flashes
Molumby - 5 The odd decent dribble. Fought for us as you’d expect.
Sarmiento - 5 One excellent dribble for the Molumby chance but struggled although battled away
BTA - 5 Clearly playing on a lead and under orders not to take risks or do excess running but his holdup wasn’t great and always wanted a touch too many

Fellows, Jed & Pipa - 6 I thought they improved us