MORRIS GETS THE MILLERS MOVING
ROTHERHAM manager Paul Warne praised his side for winning ugly in their narrow triumph over Accrington.
Carlton Morris bagged the winner with half an hour played to move Rotherham up to sixth spot.
With most of their top-half rivals without a fixture, the Millers, even with ten men after Chiedozi Ogbene’s late red card, took advantage and sealed a hard-earned victory.
Warne feels there is more to come from his team, though. He said: “I think we will play a lot better than that and lose, so I’m not complaining. In the first half we were good and caused them plenty of problems.
“Carlton took his goal really well. It was a good header. We just needed the second goal, really. In the second half they put us under pressure.
“To go down to ten men showed a lot of character and the fans got behind us. They helped the lads out. In a perverted sort of way, it helped us.
“It’s nice to win and going up to sixth position is good. I still think there’s a lot to come from the team.
“People always say it’s a sign of a good team if you win when you’re not at your best. It’s all about winning.”
Morris’s early effort brought a pushed save out of Dimitar Evtimov and then Ogbene’s curler was just wide of the far post as the home side started the better of the two.
The hosts took the lead after 30 minutes with Morris rising above the Accrington defence to power firmly into the bottom corner from Ben Wiles’s free-kick.
The lively Morris almost doubled Rotherham’s advantage before the break, but his effort curled just wide.
Accrington started to enjoy more possession in the second half and substitute Sean McConville almost nipped in to restore parity. Rotherham’s response saw Wiles fire a stinging effort in from the edge of the box.
Ogbene was given his marching orders in the 82nd minute for his second yellow card following a dive and the weakened Rotherham had to see out a late onslaught for the three points.
Stanley manager John Coleman said: “We had 14 shots and only one on target. It wasn’t really a good shot on target, to be honest, just a scramble on the goalline which gets cleared. Unfortunately that is the reason we are in the position that we are.
“We are more than matching teams. Rotherham started strongly, but we held them at bay. We conceded a poor goal from a set play.
“They have rarely troubled us second half, but I think we had ten shots in the second half and missed the target. Three beat the goalkeeper, but were inches wide. We haven’t scored a goal in five games. That is killing us.
“We have played better than what our position suggests, but that is what is plaguing us at the minute.”
ROTHERHAM: Iversen 7, Olosunde 8, Ihiekwe 7, Robertson 7, Jones 7, Wiles 8, Barlaser 7, Crooks 6 (Lindsay 77, 6), Ogbene 5, Smith 6 (Ladapo 76, 6), Morris 9 (Thompson, 88). Subs not used: Vassell, Price, Clarke, Hastie.
ACCRINGTON: Evtimov 7, Johnson 6, Sykes 6, Rodgers 6, Maguire 6 (Carvalho 89), Clark 6, Finley 6, Conneely 6, Barclay 5 (Bishop 77, 6), Pritchard 5 (McConville 46, 7), Charles 5. Subs not used: Edwards, Zanzala, Savin, Diallo.