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Quick Look Back At Last Season – December
The final month of the year saw Rotherham United start in sixteenth place in the Championship.
Again it was a month curtailed by the World Cup with the first game of December being on the tenth which saw Bristol City the visitors at the New York Stadium. And it didn’t start well when Wes Harding, trying to clear the ball, inadvertently put it into his own net giving the Robins a fourteen minute lead. Chieo Ogbene equalised with a header but that only lasted five minutes because Joe Williams tapped home the ball on the half-hour mark. Viktor Johansson made a couple of cracking saves in the second half but couldn’t keep out a Cameron Pring goal from a corner which gave City a three-one victory. After the game Millers Boss Matt Taylor said he felt like he’d been ‘whacked on the jaw’.
While midfielder Dan Barlaser was always going to be hounded in January it seemed the latest club keeping an eye on him were Championship rivals Middlesbrough. The Millers were also being linked with Matt Taylor’s former striker at Exeter, Jevani Brown.
Later in the month Dan said that he was concentrating on his Rotherham career but if a deal came in that was right, then he would be having a ‘good think’ about it and also speaking to his wife.
The Millers Boss also told us that none of our out of contract players had responded to new offers from the club.
A week on from the loss at home to Bristol City the Millers let in another three goals this time at The Hawthorns which, despite the possession sats saying possession was fifty/fifty the Baggies had nine shots on goal from sixteen while Rotherham had one on target from two. Jed Wallace scored on twenty minutes while second half goals from Grady Diangana and Brandon Thomas-Asante, who saw his penalty shot saved by Viktor Johansson was there to put the rebound in for a three-nil win.
The Millers welcomed Stoke City to the New York Stadium on Boxing Day and went ahead on the stroke of half-time thanks to a Jordan Thompson own goal. Just after the hour mark Tyrese Campbell go an equaliser for the Potters which was followed by a Conor Washington goal ten minutes later giving the Millers the lead again. But ten minutes from time a Stoke corner went in looking for the head of Harry Souttar but instead found Lee Peltier who scored the second own goal of the game giving Stoke a point. After the draw Millers Boss Matt Taylor said it remained ‘too chaotic’ for his liking.
December’s final game for Rotherham was at the John Smith’s Stadium when goals in each half – firstly from Duane Holmes and then Jordan Rhodes – saw Huddersfield Town win the game two-nil.
There looked to be a lot of tired bodies throughout December for the Millers. Injuries took their toll and a lot of our players were playing with niggles and through the pain barrier.
Vital Rotherham’s Man of the Month for December was Ollie Rathbone.
Rotherham United ended 2022 in twentieth place in the Championship with twenty-seven points, the same as Hull City but with a better goal difference and one point less than Cardiff City and Bristol City.
