Rotherham registered their first point of the
season at the third attempt as they drew 0-0 with Preston in a game
that rarely looked like finishing any other way.
Still, at least the Millers notched a clean sheet,
moved off the bottom of the table and ended a run of successive
defeats.
Here are five things we learned from the game.
Jonson Clarke-Harris ain't bad when he has a point to prove
After not getting a sniff in the opening four
games of the season and rejecting loan moves, including the chance to
join Colchester, Jonson Clarke-Harris was eventually given a place on
the bench against Preston and the manner of the first-half display
and the ineffectiveness of Jordan Bowery meant he got his chance
early in the second half. It was immediately clear that the Millers'
club-record buy had a bee in his bonnet as he came on and made an
impact. He won headers, ran at defenders and generally brought a bit
of vigour to the team. If you actually look at what he did in
isolation it wasn't much, but in comparison to what had happened
before he came on his energy gave the Millers a shot in the arm they
needed. Now Clarke-Harris has to build on this performance, he has to
prove to Evans, who had all-but lost faith in him, that this is the
start of him coming good and beginning to justify that £400,000
price tag. In the past, he has always been a flash in the pan, but
for everyone's sake this time, he has to become a raging fire.
Jordan Bowery can play left-back
If we learned anything from Jordan Bowery's 60-odd
minutes on the left hand side of midfield is that if Joe Mattock,
Aidy White, Joe Newell or Danny Collins are ever all unavailable then
Evans could throw the Millers striker into the left-back position.
After an ineffective showing on the flank against Nottingham Forest
on Saturday, Bowery was given another chance but did little to prove
the doubters wrong. Indeed, his best contributions came in a
defensive capacity as he provided cover for Mattock on several
occasions during the first half. In an attacking sense, he produced
very little, albeit not in preferred position and never got in a
position where he could run at defenders and do the things we saw in
pre-season. That must be incredibly frustrating for him. How long
Evans will persevere with the one-time club-record signing in that
position will remain to be seen but on this evidence it cannot be
much longer.
Rotherham need Joe Mattock match fit
The sooner Rotherham can get 90 minutes out of Joe
Mattock the better. Mattock's lack of match fitness, which came as a
cost of a three-week lay-off in pre-season, meant he had to be taken
off after 70 minutes and it had a detrimental effect at both ends of
the pitch. Firstly, it meant that Joe Newell had to slip back to
left-back. The former Peterborough man is a capable player in that
position, but few would argue that he is not as defensively solid as
Mattock. Moreover, being forced backwards totally neutered him as an
attacking force, until the final few minutes when the Millers were
pushing forward. Newell has been a real plus point of the season so
far and he looks like one of the only genuine creative threats the
Millers possess at this stage.
There's a worrying lack of cutting edge
If they were still playing now, Rotherham probably
wouldn't have managed to get the ball in the back of the net against
a Preston side who are yet to concede this season. It was a
frustrating evening for the hosts, of course not helped by the fact
they employed a 4-5-1 formation in the first half, which made them
anonymous as an attacking force. Things improved after the break –
though that's not saying much – and they huffed and puffed when
Clarke-Harris came on but there was never the feeling of 'a goal is
coming'. Newell was the creative spark but there was little offered
by anyone else, which left Matt Derbyshire feeding on scraps. In
fairness, there won't be many sides that come to New York and play
only one up front, but Rotherham need to start putting the ball in
the back of the net and that is something that did not look likely
against Simon Grayson's men.
The Millers are vulnerable from set-plays
Had Bailey Wright placed his free header from a
corner slightly better, Rotherham would have been looking at a third
straight defeat. That chance for Wright was one of a few nervy
moments that the hosts endured from set-pieces. With a goalkeeper
who, however impressive at shot-stopping he might be, refuses to come
out of his six-yard box to collect deliveries and a central defender
and captain in Greg Halford, who at this stage, does not appear
willing to put his body on the line for the cause the Millers look
vulnerable. The way Wright ghosted in for that chance was alarmingly
similar to the way Matt Mills was allowed to power in for Nottingham
Forest's equaliser on Saturday. It's an area that needs work if the
Millers are to prosper this season.
