Hodgey's Season So Far

Up next for Rotherham a mid-week Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield, the game ending 3-0 to the Terriers. Luke Beckett stepped up to score a dubious penalty, many Rotherham fans thought that Terrier's striker Pawel Abbott dived after Paul Hurst was adjudged to have pulled Abbott's shirt. Abbott scored in first half stoppage time to make it 2-0. Gary Taylor-Fletcher scored the 500,000th league goal in history, to seal the game 10 minutes from time.

A long trip to the seaside saw the Millers face old boy Shaun Barker who joined Blackpool from Rotherham in the summer; he was jeered every time he touched the ball. Blackpool created some decent chances, but it was Rotherham who had the last laugh as substitute Will Hoskins pounced on Delroy Facey's spilled shot to give the Millers all 3 the points as Chants of “minus 7 and we're ‘avin a laugh!” could be heard at the final whistle as Rotherham travelled back to South Yorkshire having started to hack away at the points penalty.

7 days later and the Millers had another 3 points on the board as they beat Scunthorpe by 2 goals to 1. Will Hoskins made his first start of the season replacing Dave Hibbert up front. Prolific Scunny striker Billy Sharp headed home to give the visitors the lead, before Eugen Bopp scored an absolute screamer from 25-yards to bring the game level. Another new signing Pablo Mills who arrived from Derby County headed the winner just before half-time after a Rotherham free-kick found Hoskins, who whipped the ball over for Mills to head home. That's the way it stayed until the final whistle, to put the battling Millers on -4 points.

Oldham were the next team to fall at the first hurdle of the League Cup, as they were beaten 3-1 at Millmoor by a far superior Millers side. After a very poor first 45 minutes from Rotherham's point of view, Oldham's Craig Rocastle hitting a shot past the stranded Neil Cutler and into the back of the net. After the break Rotherham created decent chances, and the pressure paid off in the 48th minute as Ian Sharps scored his first Millers goal to level matters. 10 minutes later Rotherham's super striker Will Hoskins scored his second of the season. And two minutes from time “Wednesday Reject” Richie Partridge headed home his first Millers goal to put Rotherham through to the next round.

Rotherham travelled to Valley Parade to face Bradford hoping to get a win, but a draw was all they got. Will Hoskins put the Millers ahead in the 32nd minute, only for Bradford veteran Dean Windass to level 15 minutes from time. But, there was more bad news to come for the Millers fans as Hoskins was sent off 2 minutes from time as he was penalised for a bad tackle to earn himself a 2nd yellow as he'd been booked just after scoring to leave the Millers with 10 men.

Lee Williamson's former team Northampton travelled to Millmoor in search of a win and that's what they got, beating a poor Millers side 2-1. Dave Hibbert gave Rotherham the lead within 10 minutes, but only for Cobblers striker Scott McGleish to bag a brace in the last 20 minutes to leave the Rotherham fans red faced after they missed out on the chance to wipe out the points penalty.

An away loss to close rivals Chesterfield followed with Folan and Shaw scoring for the Spirerites with Hoskins scoring for the reds.

On a warm Tuesday night Rotherham ground out a win against former boss, Ronnie Moore and his Tranmere Rovers team at Millmoor. Lee Williamson put the Millers ahead, only for Tranmere to level and Will Hoskins gave the Millers the win in the 38th minute with a fine shot in to the bottom right hand corner of the net, to put the Millers on 0 points!! I know people don't normally celebrate being bottom of the table on 0 points, but it was a great start to the season to have wiped out the points deficit. And Rotherham were on + points for the 1st time this season.

After a dour 0-0 draw with close rivals Doncaster Rovers, the Norwich bandwagon rolled into Millmoor hoping to get a win, and that's what they got, Norwich went ahead in the 1st minute. Michael Keane brought the game level with a neat chip under the Railway End before Lee Williamson stepped up to smash home a penalty after Will Hoskins had his shirt pulled in the box to make it 2-1 to the Millers. But four minutes later Norwich made it 2-2, 3-2 and then 4-2 as they scored in the final minutes, but the score didn't reflect on the Millers performance.

The Millers beat fellow strugglers Leyton Orient 3-2, Ian Sharps, Will Hoskins and loanee Scott Wiseman scored from 20-yards to put the Millers onto 4 points!

Oldham got revenge on Rotherham as the Millers went down 2-1, Stam scored for Oldham, but Hoskins levelled things up before Rotherham old boy Paul Warne scored 15 minutes from time to sink Rotherham.

Will Hoskins had put the Millers 2-0 at home to fellow strugglers Millwall, only for Millwall to pull it back to 2 all, and for Millwall's Dunne to score in the final minute to keep Rotherham bottom of the table and the fans shocked at what they had just seen, and Rotherham ended September on a bad note.

But the Millers sparked into life in October as they beat promotion chasing Port Vale. Justin Cochrane scored a header just after the break, his 1st goal since joining from Crewe Alexandra in the close season. Dave Hibbert scored against his former team and wonder kid Will Hoskins scored a 30-yard scorcher into an empty net. Leon Constantine scored his 8th league goal of this season after a penalty was awarded against Rotherham, and Rotherham left Vale Park with another 3 points on the board to put them on 7 points altogether!

A week later and Lee Williamson inspired Rotherham to another home win, this time against Brentford. Rotherham won a free-kick 4 minutes after the break, Lee Williamson expertly curled the ball in to the top right hand corner of the net. 10 minutes later Williamson made it 2-0 as he smashed home a penalty to leave Brentford empty-handed, and it left Rotherham on 10 points and off the bottom of the table for the first time this season!

A mid-week trip to Hartlepool followed in the Johnstones Paint Trophy. A game which the Millers lost. With the score 1-0 to ‘Pool. Delroy Facey scored his 1st goal for Rotherham. But Rotherham couldn't hold on and the game ended 3-1 to Hartlepool and Rotherham dumped out of the cup, which they won at Wembley in 1996.

Then it was a long journey to Bournemouth, which saw the Millers win 3-1 wearing a new white kit as both current Rotherham kits clashed with Bournemouth's home kit. Eugen Bopp, back in the team after a niggling injury opened the scoring with a low shot from around 20-yards. But a Darren Anderton free kick saw Gowling head home to make it 1-1. But almost instantly Rotherham were ahead when Will Hoskins scored his 9th league goal, he headed a Michael Keane cross past the Cherries ‘keeper, and 3 minutes later Rotherham had the points in the bag as Lee Williamson scored a glorious goal from 25-yards, curling the ball past the ‘keeper as the Cherries players gave him too much room.

This left the Millers on 13 points and 3 points from safety. Lets hope they can keep their great form against Crewe Alexandra and into November and the winter months.

I hope you have enjoyed my “The season so far...” feature and I hope that there will more articles to come from me in the near future. Thank you for your time, and thanks to Deano and Rich for giving me this opportunity to show what I can do.

Up The Millers !!