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09:23:00

Hull 5 Rotherham 1: Five things we learned

Rotherham's final-day survival party was soured as they were thumped 5-1 at play-off bound Hull.

Despite taking the lead, the Millers were destroyed by the Tigers' 18-minute four-goal salvo in the first half.


Here's five things we learned from the game.

Rotherham's 'oles' may have been a little bit premature

After taking an early lead through Lee Frecklington, hopes of one last hurrah this season were high. Their team were winning, the sun was shining and the party in the away end was in full swing, so much so that the 2,000-plus travelling fans greeted a spell of Millers possession with 'ole' every time they passed the ball. It was all harmless fun, of course, but there wasn't much more for them to enjoy after that. Shortly after they were blown apart by a Hull side who looked like scoring every time they got the ball.

The final farewells

A large number of the team that played at the KC Stadium may not be around next season, not to mention the manager. We know that Grant Ward has said his goodbyes while there were several players whose contract expires in the summer. So, this was hardly the farewell some of them will have wanted nor was it fitting for their efforts over the 11-game unbeaten run. Still, the travelling hordes still have them a heroes' reception at the end of the game.

Let's keep this in perspective

Although being on the end of a 5-1 thumping is never nice, at least it came when nothing was riding on the game. The alternative is a totally chastening thought in that the Millers could quite easily have been going to the KC Stadium on Saturday needing points to ensure their safety. Rotherham's highs came between March and mid-April, meaning that a few lows have followed since and it's led to a five-game winless run. Things have naturally been flat since that magical day in the sun at MK Dons and the Hull outing was a horror show but we know enough about Neil Warnock to be sure that things would have been different if the game meant something.

Will he, won't he?

What we know less about Warnock is whether he will be at Rotherham next season and the man himself admits to not having a clue. The will-he-won't-he saga is set to drag on for a few more weeks yet and it will probably all boil down to what offers, if any, he gets from other clubs. There are things that work in Rotherham's favour, including perhaps a wayward ending to the season just reducing his stock, but if he gets an offer from a club who he thinks has a chance of promotion, the sense is he is likely to be off in a shot. Whatever happens, Warnock has etched his name into Millers folklore for pulling off the great escape, meaning that his reign potentially ending in a worst defeat of the season won't even scratch on the surface of the memory banks.

Pace required at the back 

The shortcomings of the Rotherham team compared to a marauding Hull team were there for all to see, but perhaps the most obvious eye-opener for everyone was just how the Millers defence is desperate for an injection of pace. That back four, and variations of it with Joe Mattock, have performed so well under Warnock and the amount of clean sheets prove it. But there's not been too many times that they have been subjected to that amount of pace and movement and at the KC Stadium they simply couldn't cope. The full-backs will have hardly slept for having night terrors about Robert Snodgrass and Ahmed Elmohamady, while Kirk Broadfoot and Richard Wood will surely never want to see Abel Hernandez and Mo Diame ever again. Whoever occupies the New York dugout come August will need to have added a bit of legs to that back four.

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