Rotherham United smashed three goals past Wayne Rooney’s Derby County to claim a first league double since 1965/66.
Three second half goals from centre-half Michael ‘Big Dave’ Ihiekwe, Michael Smith, and Ryan Giles sunk the Rams in a game they looked in control of after the restart.
A massive result given this fixture had been postponed twice before tonight and is one of the Millers’ games in hand in the relegation scrap.
Rotherham looked the better team early on, but Derby found their feet after twenty or so minutes with decent efforts at goal, but smart defending and goalkeeping kept it level. Rotherham pressure mounted in the last five and Crooks nearly pounced on a loose ball and Jamie Lindsay should’ve scored in a 1v1, but his volley curled the wrong way round the post.
Derby took control of the second half early on and looked most likely to score after breaching the Millers defence on multiple occasions and causing problems with Martyn Waghorn sniffing and Colin Kazim-Richards proving to be a difficult customer.
But it was Rotherham who grabbed the first goal. A dead ball on halfway was lofted into the area, headed on once, before Ihiekwe appeared and the back post and poked it home. Big Dave with his Big Toe.
It would be Rotherham to ripple the net again after a superb run from Matt Crooks brought fresh sub, Ryan Giles, into play. His pass back to the big man teed up the cross which fell to Michael Smith at the near post. You know the rest.
The final action came with Giles picking up the ball on a counterattack from Crooks and driving at goal. The wing back rifled a ball to the far post, echoing his goal against Middlesbrough last week. Sealing the win for the Millers.
Scared to play. Are. You. Sure?
Teams:
Rotherham: Johansson, Wood ©, Wiles (S MacDonald 91), Robertson, Lindsay (A MacDonald 83), Harding, Ihiekwe, Olosunde (Giles 67), Smith (Ladapo 83), Crooks, Barlaser (Wing 67)
(Unused subs: Vickers, Hirst, T Clarke, Cooper)
Derby: Marshall ©, Wisdom, Shinnie (Baningime 86), Jozwiak (Roberts 71), Bird, Waghorn (Gregory), Byrne, Kazim-Richards (Sibley 86), M Clarke, Buchanan, Knight
(Unused subs: Roos, Forsyth, Mengi, McDonald, Watson
Goals: Ihiekwe 75, Smith 81, Giles 87
Referee: J Simpson
The Wandering Yorkshireman 