Steve Liles - Crystal Palace Match Analysis

In the past few weeks Rotherham United have experienced most reasons and excuses for failing to win matches; gutless performances against Derby and Gillingham, no passion against Bradford, downright unlucky against Sheffield United and an inability to convert chances against Crewe. Last night against Crystal Palace there were elements of luck going Palace’s way and there were also elements of failing to convert chances, but the bottom line was that Crystal Palace gave Rotherham United a lesson on how to win a First Division football match by putting away their chances when they were on top and then showing calm composure to comfortably see out the rest of the match.

Rotherham, to be fair, played with some passion, appeared up for it, played some neat football and carved out a few openings. But in truth they simply came up against a better side, who, with the luxury of an early two goal lead, never really looked in danger of surrendering their first half advantage and managed to play their part in an attacking encounter safe in the confidence that their ability at the back could keep out the flair of Monkhouse and Mullin and the attacking threat of Proctor and Butler. It wasn’t exactly men against boys, but it was a direct lesson in the benefits of believing in yourselves and possessing the ability and the composure to see out a match and take three points without having to break too much of a sweat.

The irony of all this is that the opening five minutes had promised so much with Rotherham coming out of their starting blocks with so much purpose and determination.

Rotherham’s passionate start eventually gave way to Palace’s swift movement and they began to stamp their superior class onto the game. When Shipperley headed a clear cut chance over the bar from 8 yards out the writing seemed on the wall as Julian Gray, as he did last season, started to tear the Rotherham defence apart.

Following a sustained period of pressure, the opening goal finally arrived when Routledge, who gave Minto the runaround for most of the evening, blasted in a shot which ricochet across the area to Gray who’s first time shot from 12 yards was deflected into the net off Shipperley.

Palace at this stage looked capable of breaking through the Rotherham defence at will. The speed of their attacking play, epitomised through Gray and Routledge, was proving too much for the fullbacks while top scorer Andy Johnson looked impressively lively. However, Rotherham were also showing desire and signs of flair, most notably through Proctor and Monkhouse who were getting plenty of the ball and showing their own individual ability. Firstly Proctor skipping past a couple of markers before whipping a 25yard shot across Vaesen’s goal and inches wide of the far post. Then Monkhouse, revelling in his free role in Sedgy’s absence, made a similar run, dragging the ball through two defenders and skipping past a third to make the space to shoot but unfortunately getting underneath the ball and skying his effort into the crowd.

If the Rotherham defence were feeling slightly overawed at this stage, referee Cooper soon showed he shouldn’t have been officiating in the professional game with two diabolical decisions. The first incident showed a total lack of understanding of the game when Butler innoculously challenged Butterfield on the edge of the Palace area as Butterfield tried to clear. With play reverting to the half way line from the clearance and the referee clearly running up field to catch up with play, a significant lapse in time had occurred before Cooper glanced backwards to see that Butterfield was still on the ground. Stopping the game he then signalled a foul and booked Butler.

If that decision had infuriated the crowd then a few moments later they were

The injustice of the decision was compounded when from the resulting freekick it was cleared up front where some excellent interchange between Routledge and Gray ended with Routledge crossing to the unmarked Shipperley on the edge of the six yard box, with Gilchrist, Barker and Minto all marking fresh air, and Shipperley’s looping header finding it’s way into the far corner of Pollit’s net.

The second half saw Rotherham start lively enough although there was a sense that Palace were still holding on a little too comfortably. Monkhouse had a shot blocked on the edge of the area with the ball returning to him before he dragged the ball onto his right foot to pile another shot which again was blocked.

Barker replaced Warne with Proctor taking up a more right sided role in order to boost the attack. The change nearly paid dividend when Barker finally got onto the end of a Rotherham cross but his header was comfortably saved.

Monkhouse once again showed his sublime skills when he was chased out to the touchline, but a delightful drag back and turn left his two markers stranded as he raced toward the penalty area but unfortunately his cross once again found the Palace defenders too easily.

With six minutes remaining Rotherham gave themselves a lifeline when a Monkhouse corner was only half cleared to Mullin on the edge of the box. As the Palace defence pushed forwards, Mullin’s header back into the box fell to Proctor who swivelled and volleyed the ball into the net.

Hopes of an equaliser were raised in the final minute when Proctor received the ball just inside the Palace half and ran forwards past one defender before unleashing a tremendous shot from 25 yards which Vaesen managed to collect at the second attempt.

While it is disappointing that Rotherham have failed to capitalise on the game in hand, reflecting on the game will show that their wasn’t much wrong with the attitude or the performance of the players. In the early parts of the season when we were playing like a team with no belief, I commented on how each individual player wasn’t doing much wrong but as a team they were simply not performing. This analysis could not be used at yesterday’s performance as with Jody Morris playing his most effective role in a Millers shirt and Monkhouse winning most of his dribbling duals with the Palace midfield the team actually performed to a satisfactory level. One could argue that if Palace’s first goal hadn’t had a series of deflections and Morris’ penalty had stood then Rotherham could have been enjoying the points reward and relative safety of a good night’s work. This however, would be detracting from a very assured and classy performance from a Palace side who not long ago were struggling with the Millers at the bottom end of the table but now find themselves just six points from the playoffs with a game in hand.

With home games against Ipswich, Watford and Burnley coming up, it is still very much in the hands of ourselves to gain the two wins we need to avoid relegation back to Division Two. Unfortunately any dropped points against other teams in the relegation battle will not only give those teams much valued points but will increase the pressure to win away at Stoke, Coventry and Walsall. Although Stoke and Coventry have relatively nothing to play for this season, it is these two teams which seem to be hitting a vein of form just when the Millers could do with a bonus. However, the passion is back and coupled with the team’s ability, the laws of averages suggest they will get the break they deserve and achieve more than Ronnie’s goal of the 50 point mark. However, not wanting to leave our fate to the hands of the laws of statistics, a real concerted effort this coming Bank Holiday weekend could leave the rest of the relegation contenders in our wake and looking forwards to an unprecedented 4^th stint in this division and all the possibilities of new ownership and the elusive stand. Roll on Ipswich.