A first-half goal from Michael Smith and an own goal from Crewe Alexandra goalkeeper Dave Richards saw Rotherham United defeat their hosts at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday, a result that sent the Millers back top of the league while the Alex would lose midfielder Scott Robertson sent off for two yellow cards in quick succession.
Manager David Artell made two changes from last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Cambridge United with Connor O’Riordan making his league debut and Luke Murphy coming into the midfield – Zac Williams would miss out through illness while Robertson would drop down to the bench, where he was joined by new signing Bassala Sambou. Former Alex loanee Dan Barlaser would start for the visitors.
The opening chance and goal came in the 7th minute with Smith heading home a cross from the right as Dave Richards came for the ball but was beaten by the forward before an inswinging corner from Shane Ferguson was headed onto the bar by Will Grigg in the 19th minute.
Robertson would be shown a yellow card in the 69th minute before the Scot would receive his marching orders 4 minutes later, both for fouls on Chiedozie Ogbene. The second came from the resulting free-kick as Smith would hit the post with his effort with the ball going in off Richards.
Our next couple of games sees the Alex travel to Gillingham on Tuesday night before hosting Plymouth Argyle the following Tuesday.
What can we take out of this game?
An awful performance really against a team that didn’t need to work too hard for the win. Both Travis Johnson and Richards were really poor in the game but the team were let down by Robertson’s lack of discipline, especially when he dived in when he picked up his second card – Tuesday’s game becomes so much more important and is must win if we want to play at this level next season.