The day the Millers put themselves on the map

With Rotherham kicking off the Easter celebrations with a trip to Birmingham, it's inevitable that memories will wander back to last time the Millers played on Good Friday.

Steve Evans' men also headed to the midlands this time last year, but they travelled to Molineux to face Wolves - and it was a classic.

With both teams in the thick of a League One promotion battle, they delivered a game that forced themselves into the national conciousness and one that will last long in the memory.

Below is the match report from that clash which featured in Millers book Reliving The Dream.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 (Dicko 21, 34, 80, Edwards 38,Ricketts 90, McDonald 90)

Rotherham United 4 (Agard 14, 61, 88, Skarz 83)

Sky Bet League One

18/4/14

This is why we love football. Although Rotherham ended up on the losing side of a 10-goal thriller it was impossible not to shower them with praise for the part they played in a stunning game of football full of entertainment, drama, individual talent and sub-plots. It had five goals in the final 10 minutes, two pitch invasions with another one 130 miles away at Griffin Park, two hat-tricks and two decisive injury-time goals, taking star billing on a Good Friday programme where eyes were for once diverted away from the Premier League. Ultimately defeat cost the Millers any hope of going up automatically, but with the level of this performance and the way they matched a Wolverhampton Wanderers side who were creating history in the third tier and playing in front of their biggest crowd at Molineux for over three decades, confidence for the forthcoming play-off campaign ought to have been sky high. And it was a further reminder for Millers fans of just how far their side had come in the past two years under Steve Evans and what an absolute pleasure it was to watch them.

The biggest disappointment for a chunk of the travelling support was that they didn’t make kick-off, despite a 10-minute delay, as a closure of the M1 caused travel chaos. By the time some of them arrived, their team were already a goal to the good as the Millers went ahead in the 14^th minute when Kieran Agard glanced in Michael O’Connor’s corner to breach the Wolves defence for the first time in 392 minutes.

The joy was short-lived, though, and with the help of some generous Millers defending, three goals in 17 minutes gave the hosts, who had secured automatic promotion the previous week, the advantage. And there was absolutely no surprise as to who did most of the damage. NouhaDicko’s last game as a Rotherhamloanee back in December was against Kenny Jackett’s men and he bagged two goals in a 3-3 draw at New York. A few weeks later the Frenchman had to choose between the two clubs and opted for a permanent move to the Black Country. And he gave his former employees a bitter reminder of what they were missing out on. First he equalised in the 21^st minute when BakarySako’s cross was palmed out by Adam Collin into his path before coolly adding a second after breaking the offside trap soon afterwards. Evans’ men were in danger of being blown away as four minutes later Dave Edwards slid home another after being allowed the freedom of the penalty area.

Whatever Evans said to his men at half-time did the trick as they put on a display to be proud of after the break. Some decent pressure was rewarded in the 61^st minute when Agard, as he had done so often, found himself in the right position to wriggle free and send a low shot into the corner. But hopes of a famous comeback seemed to be quashed with 10 minutes to go when Dicko completed his hat-trick, turning in from close range after Edwards broke down the right to make it 4-2.

You would think that a player scoring a hat-trick against his former team would be the main talking point, but that just served as an appetiserfor a frantic and dramaticyou-score-we-score finale. Three minutes after Dicko’sstrike the Millers reduced the deficit back to one with a real collector’s item. It’s unlikely that anyone had been underrated as much as Joe Skarz this season as his solid and dependable performances at left-back meant it was one area Evans did not have to worry about. But exactly how he found himself in the centre-forward position to convert Nicky Adams’ cross with a cushioned right-foot volley – a finish that Agard would have been proud of – is anyone’s guess and it brought his side back into it again.

By this time, owing to the late kick-off, Brentford had beaten Preston North End and their fans had invaded the pitch at Griffin Park, thinking they were up with the Millers and Leyton Orient both dropping points. But there was more drama to come and it threatened to rain on the Bees’ parade. Five minutes after Skarz’s effort the Millers drew on incredible reserves of resolve and fight as they levelled at 4-4. James Tavernier surged forward and his dragged shot was diverted into the bottom corner by Agard to complete his hat-trick and make it a fight between him and Dicko as to who would take the matchball home. It was a landmark moment for the 24-year-old as it was his first career treble and he became only the third Millers play to score 20 league goals in a season in 20 years, joining Mark Robins and Adam Le Fondre.

It sparked mass scenes of celebration in the away end, but heart-breakingly they did not last long as Wolves restored their lead virtually straight from kick-off with arguably the best goal of the afternoon when Sam Ricketts curled an unstoppable effort into the top corner. Rotherham had four up front by this time and deep into the eight minutes of stoppage time they were caught on the break as Dicko sped away and squared for Kevin McDonald to sweep home the 10^th goal of the game, winning the points for Wolves, prompting a pitch invasion and securing Brentford’s return to the second tier for the first time since the early 1990s.

With another pitch invasion coming at the final whistle, the Rotherham players were swamped by a surge of gold engulfing the pitch. They may have been lost in the crowd at the end, but their wonderful efforts in the game were not.

Rotherham: Collin, Tavernier, Morgan, Arnason, Skarz, Agard, O’Connor (Hitchcock 77), Smallwood, Adams, Vuckic (Pringle 69), Revell (Thomas 65)

Attendance: 30,110 (1,972 Millers)

What the Gaffer said:

“It will take a lot of time to assess that game.For 30 minutes in the second half we gave them a battering and we got ourselves back in the game but our defending was poor. But what a fantastic advert for League One football. We have had many plaudits from Wolves who have told us we are the best team they have played this season.

“In that second half I think Wolves saw an outstanding Rotherham performance. As a team we didn’t defend well enough, but we are exciting to watch. I would rather be watching us than watching 11 men behind the ball every week and struggling to get over the halfway line.”