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The game kicked off in blustery conditions, with the Millers kicking uphill on a soggy Herringthorpe pitch and both teams took a while to settle in. Rotherham were struggling to get hold of the ball and Hibs were creating pressure by using the wind to pump balls behind their defence and in to the channels and this is how Hibs took the lead. The Rotherham defence tried to play offside to a long ball over the top, but Jebu seemed to keep the Hibs player onside. There looked to be no danger though as the ball skipped through to Shark. However, he inexplicably lost his bearings and let the ball run past him, allowing the Hibs striker a simple tap in, despite the ball getting stuck in water.
This was not a great start for the home team and it was in fact the first time they had conceded the opening goal of the match since they played Sheffield Wednesday in the first game of the season way back in August. The Millers responded well though and started to get hold of the ball a bit more and they soon drew parity. A nice passing move including Burnsy, JV and Lee ended with Gaz spraying a superb ball out to Jammer who had got in behind the last man and he applied a neat first time finish.
This buoyed the Millers and despite being against the wind they seemed to negate Hibs pressure for a bit and indeed took the lead soon after in what was a virtual carbon copy of the first goal, with once again Gaz supplying the ball to Jammer, who beat the onrushing keeper well. Rotherham were in dreamland and needed to consolidate before half time.
They could not manage to do so though as after they defended a corner they lost possession of the ball in the centre circle and a Hibs midfielder ran all the way through and beat Shark at the near post with a low drive. Rotherham could have restored their lead, with another nice move but JV's left footed shot was just saved by the keeper's feet. Things got even worse just before half time as Hibs took the lead with a soft goal. A corner from the left hand side was swung in and with no apparent challenge Shark could do no more than flap the ball in to his own net to give the away side a vital half time lead.
The Millers spoke at the break about being more composed and with the wind and hill in their favour they were keen to start the second period with a fast pace. However, things could not have gone any worse as after a Hibs striker was allowed to twist and turn in the home penalty he box he managed to get a shot in that went past Shark and in to the net, a shot that on another day Shark might have saved. This was a major blow to the IFA Champions elect and in years gone by at 4-2 they may have crumbled.
It wasn't the case though as they were soon on the attack and immediately reduced the arrears with a fine goal. JV and Burnsy combined on the edge of the box before the prolific striker turned and lashed a shot in from 25 yards with the keeper motionless. The Millers had to capitalise and did so as they piled on the pressure. The work rate of the front three and midfielders was prolific and their constant chasing and harrying caused errors in the Hibs defence and one of those errors led to the fourth and equalising goal. Burnsy capitalised on some poor control and raced through on goal, twisting and turning before blasting the ball home!
Hibs' physicality still caused a threat but our defence held strong and luckily Sharky didn't have much to do and we were bossing the game creating many chances. Burnsy went close on two occasions, hitting the post once and going just wide and Gaz almost struck gold with a long distance free kick that just went over the bar. Eventually after what seemed like ages of complete dominance the comeback was complete and once again it came from Mr Burns' lethal right foot finishing well under pressure. This was a sweet moment for everyone as all eleven players on the pitch travelled to Edinburgh last season and were subject to both verbal and physical abuse. There were great scenes of celebration and Denti took time to goad their fans, just as they had done last season.
Amazingly, so much had happened that there were still 20 minutes to go so Rotherham could not afford to relax. It had been a physical game all the way through, this is Hibs main attribute, and there were a few tasty challenges. Last season Hibs were happy to dish it out, safe in the knowledge that they had a ref who was the dad of one of the players to protect them and we reacted poorly. The boot was on the other foot this time as put some good ball winning challenges in and also a few non-ball winning challenges in. The took exception to one by Gaz, and instead of letting the referee, who had handled things very well throughout, control matters their fans and manager decided to invade the pitch and start scuffling. This led to the introduction of more handbags than you could ever wish to see at Top Shop and when it had all died down, Gaz collected his second booking of the season.
With the team having a slender lead they in truth needed a sixth goal to ease nerves as the game would have gone straight to penalties had Hibs scored and levelled, so everyone could breath a lot easier when Burnsy was on hand to grab his fourth and seal our semi-final birth, where Preston await and more importantly exorcised the ghosts of last seasons tie and complete an Edinburgh double!!