BAGGIES ROUT
great to have him at the club.” Gayle’s onslaught began after just six minutes. Felled by Clark Robertson on the edge of the box, the former Palace striker craftily drilled the resulting free-kick under the Rotherham wall. Marek Rodak, stranded on his line, had no chance.
Harvey Barnes then continued his fine season with a beautifully crafted second. The on-loan Leicester winger, mesmeric throughout, beat two players, teed up Jay Rodriguez, then buried the rebound when the striker hit the woodwork.
It was the 15th goal the 21-year-old has been directly involved in so far this term and Moore now faces a nervous wait to see if the Premier League Foxes utilise the call-back clause in his season-long loan deal. By half-time it was game over, Gayle steering Matt Phillips’ deep delivery inside the far post with the deftest of glances.
Millers boss Paul Warne said he was “cool as a cucumber” in the dressing room, and with good reason.
Unbeaten here since August, his side hit a post through Manning at 1-0, then saw Semi Ajayi’s follow-up cleared off the line. Even after Gayle added his third, pouncing on Rodak’s misguided attempt to prevent a corner, the Millers kept plugging away and were again unlucky to see a goalbound Michael Smith header hacked away. Manning’s penalty miss, after Richie Towell was wiped out by Tosin Adarabioyo, added insult to injury – especially when the stadium MC prematurely launched a burst of goal music.
“That summed us up today,” said a philosophical Warne, whose side face a crunch clash at Bolton on Boxing Day.
“Ryan hit it clean, sent the keeper the wrong way, but it hit a post doesn’t come back to us. They hit a post, it falls to them and it’s 2-0.
“I think the way we set up was the best way to set up. The performances were as good as we could ask for. It actually seemed like we had as many attempts on goal as them and we certainly didn’t deserve to lose 4-0.
“But the difference between good and great is taking your chances in the in the moments and that’s what they did today.”
Moore agreed with Warne’s assessment, and praised his men for nullifying a side who had been defeated just once in their past 10 matches.
“Paul’s got his team paying really well,” he added. “They keep going and they’re very good at what they do. Even when we were three or four goals up, they were still running. I don’t think many teams will come here and win, let alone with a scoreline like that.”