Five things we learned from the Reading game

Rotherham defied a three-point deduction to secure their Sky Bet Championship survival by beating Reading on Tuesday night.

It ended in a third successive celebratory pitch invasion at New York Stadium as the Millers achieved something boss Steve Evans ranks as the “best” thing in his career.

Typically, it wasn't a straight forward evening. Here's five things we learned from the game.

Rotherham deserve to be a Championship side

Any team that secures their survival twice is definitely worthy of a place in their division and that is what the Millers effectively had to do. Had the three points not been taken away, Evans' men could have had safety wrapped up on Saturday, and probably well before, with Millwall and Wigan lifted by the impending punishment. But they still did the business and with a game to spare to prove that they definitely deserve to be in the Championship next year. The well-known cliché “the table never lies” would not have been further from the truth had the Millers ended up in the bottom three. Although, it was made harder than it perhaps should have been - and that's in no relation to the Football League's ruling - Rotherham have competed and matched enough quality teams throughout the season to deserve their place in the second tier. And now, unequivocally, they will be there next season.

Why make it easy?

As highlighted on Saturday and many, many times before, the Millers rarely do things the easy way and against Reading was no exception. The Royals had barely got a mention in the build-up to the game, the script at had been written and they were supposed to come and roll over as Rotherham claimed the golden prize. Well someone forgot to tell them that as they came to South Yorkshire and put in a display that defied their nine-match winless streak. Indeed, they were the much better side in the first half as the Millers played with nerves. But for once, just once, it looked like it might actually turn out to be an easy ride for the hosts as they scored twice in six second-half minutes to put them on the brink. But no, Oliver Norwood's impressive late strike made it a frantic and quite frankly petrifying final period. When the fourth official put five minutes up, it was impossible not to have visions of the Sheffield Wednesday game, especially as Reading threw men forward. But this time the Millers were able to hold on, though not without a few skipped heartbeats.

Lee Frecklington scores big goals

It has perhaps not been the most satisfying seasons for the popular midfielder as injuries and a rotation policy meant that he has struggled for a run of games. But over the last few weeks Frecklington has come good and it was no surprise to see him on the scoresheet against the Royals. Scoring goals in big games is what he does – the Capital One Cup winner against Sheffield Wednesday, the promotion winner against Aldershot, the header against Preston and his strike six minutes after Matt Derbyshire had opened the scoring gave the Millers what turned out to be vital breathing space. And it was true reward for a superb few weeks after coming back into the side, with his positivity and surging runs providing an extra dimension in attack. In a season where the team has been littered with loan signings and at times been difficult to identify with, there was something heart-warming to see a player like Frecklington score such a vital goal. He will go down in memory as scoring the goal which earned survival and there is no one more deserving.

The foundations at New York Stadium are firm

After Evans jiggled about for the third successive year in the directors' box in front of his adoring fans, it's fair to say that the New York Stadium was well built. Those are becoming familiar scenes as in each of the three seasons that the Millers have been playing at their new home, their final game of the campaign there has ended in a celebratory pitch invasion. No other Football League team in the country has been able to endure that period of success and when Tony Stewart built the 12,000-seater stadium, it will have been nights like last night that he envisaged. Although the reason for the celebrations was not down to the glory of promotion or booking a trip to Wembley, it came after much tougher and arduous achievement and that reception was one that the players and manager deserved after a long season. Maybe the club should look at putting a harness up there for Evans this time next year, though.

Lee Gregory got under Evans' skin

Much of the pre-match build-up centred on the comments of Millwall striker Lee Gregory, who said he “hopes Rotherham bottle” their final two games. A perfectly sound rationale for a side who knew they were relying on such an event to have any hope of staying up and he was hardly going to say he wanted the Millers to sweep to 3-0 wins in both was he? But the word 'hopes' seemed to have got lost and those comments suddenly became translated to “Rotherham will bottle it”. Whatever the semantics, the interview was music to Evans' ears and there is no doubt he will have used it to fire his players up ahead of the game. The boss said in his pre-match press gathering that he would note the comments but ignore them. But the full extent of Evans' angst towards them spilled over in his live interview with BBC Radio Sheffield moments after full-time. The Scot said: “A Millwall player said we've not got bottle. I've got 12 bottles of pink finest Champagne and we'll be drinking them for about a week. Look forward to League One, son, and keep your trap shut." That taunt, which has received national coverage, has only endeared Evans to Millers fans further and done nothing to help his reputation with opposition supporters. And maybe Gregory has learned a lesson the hard way. Don't ever talk about an opposition side with a negative connotation.