Millers hold on for crucial point.....

Rotherham United earned a valuable point in their fight for Sky Bet Championship survival despite playing the latter stages of their clash with Hull City with just ten men.

In a low-key affair, Hull had the better of the chances when Viktor Johansson denied Ryan Longman with a fine save before sub Ozan Tufan struck the woodwork in the second period.     

The Millers were made to work for their point late on when Domingos Quina was red-carded for denying Adama Traore a goalscoring opportunity as last man, but Matt Taylor’s side showed great defensive resolve to hold on for a crucial share of the spoils.

The Millers returned to league action following the March international break.

The likes of Johansson, Bailey Wright, Chiedozie Ogbene and Shane Ferguson came through their national team games unscathed to take their starting places at MKM Stadium.

Taylor was also able to call upon the services of playmaker Quina, who was handed a substitutes berth following a spell out with injury.

Ollie Rathbone was still unavailable due to a groin complaint as Jamie Lindsay was recalled in the Millers engine room while Jordan Hugill took on the skipper’s armband.

Both sets of players took to the field, in front of a sell-out crowd, and the Millers travelling contingent were in full voice prior to kick off.

The Tigers dominated the possession in the early stages and Allahyar’s pass presented Jacob Greaves with the chance to stride forward but Wright was well-stationed to divert his cross to safety.  

Johansson was called into action to punch Lewie Coyle’s cross away from danger before Jamie Lindsay almost latched onto Tariqe Fosu’s neat flick, at the other end, but Alfie Jones halted his run into the box.

Just before the quarter hour, Hull turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye and Regan Slater darted to the edge of the box but his low effort flashed narrowly wide of the visitors goal.

Minutes later, Ferguson – with his wand of a left-foot – delivered a lovely centre which evaded Rotherham runners, including Lindsay, in the six-yard box.

The Millers were having a good spell and they forced back-to-back corners whereby latterly Newcastle loanee Karl Darlow had to show bravery to punch Ferguson’s centre to safety under pressure from Cameron Humphreys.

Just before the half hour mark, Taylor’s side were indebted to Johansson for preserving parity when Longman injected pace into a Tigers move before exchanging passes with Traore, and Longman was in the clear, but Rotherham’s Swedish stopper won the battle-of-wills in the one-on-one situation to block his effort at close quarters.

At the other end, Lee Peltier – a recent scorer at Reading – was almost at it again when he met Ferguson’s corner, but he could not control his point-blank header, as it ballooned over the bar.

Humphreys became the first to see yellow for clattering Traore on halfway before Hugill and Jones had a nasty aerial clash in the Millers box, which left both players needing lengthy treatment.

The Millers had a scare when Longman got on the wrong side of the visiting rearguard but he could not get the ball under his spell and the chance was lost.

The visitors had a half-chance near the break when Fosu showed fleet of foot before firing a cross which saw Ferguson nip in front of Jones, but the ball skipped away from his attentions, and out of play.

Half-time: Hull City 0 Rotherham United 0

The Millers – now attacking their fans – were quick out of the blocks at the start of the second half and Darlow raced off his line to diffuse Ferguson’s free kick before Hull were almost the orchestrators of their own downfall when Darlow put his defenders’ under pressure, by playing out from the back with Rotherham pressing high up the pitch, but the hosts finally scrambled the ball clear.

Both sides had opportunities when Jones nodded wide from Coyle’s centre before Bramall had a dangerous cross diverted behind by a Tigers defender.

Sub Tufan almost made an immediate impact from the bench but his acrobatic effort failed to trouble the target while Hugill had a sniff of goal when he got the better of Darlow in an aerial tussle from Bramall’s free-kick, but the referee had adjudged he had done this illegally.

Peltier found himself in the book for a hefty challenge before Rotherham were thankful for the woodwork for keeping the scores level.

The home side switched play to great effect and Coyle drilled a low cross which had Johansson at full stretch – and with Rotherham unable to clear the danger – Tufan looked set to open the scoring, but Ferguson put his body on the line, and managed to somehow divert the Turkish international’s shot from close range onto the bar, before the ball fortuitously bounced to safety.

The Tigers had upped the tempo and they had faint appeals for a spot kick which was turned down before Greaves almost sneaked in around the back, before a timely tackle prevented him shooting goalwards.

Taylor made a double change with 20 minutes to go with Harding and Quina introduced into the fray, and the move almost reaped immediate rewards when the Portuguese player delivered a lovely free-kick into the danger area which was aimed at Hugill, but the Millers frontman could not make a clean connection from just yards out and his effort, via a defection, flew wide.

With the game in the balance, the Millers’ fans had their hearts in their mouths when Malcolm Ebiowei cut inside with menace to strike a left-footed effort which took a wicked deflection off Conor Coventry and although Johansson was wrongfooted, the ball fizzed past the upright.

The game took a cruel twist for the Millers with ten minutes to go when Hull countered on the break down of a Millers attack and Tufan got the better of Coventry, who failed to slow his progress, and a timely pass put Traore in the clear, and with the Hull man bearing down on goal, Quina, who had put in a lung-bursting run to get back, made a desperate last-ditch tackle to preventing him shooting goalwards, but in the process, he hauled him down on the edge of the box.

With Quina adjudged to have denied a goalscoring opportunity as last-man, the referee brandished a red-card to the Watford loanee.

Hull squandered an opportunity from the resultant free-kick when Ebiowei blazed over from an inviting position before Harding had to be on his toes to make a goal saving header at the far post.

The Millers were riding their luck and Fosu hauled over Coyle in the box, but an assistant referee’s flag came to his, and the visitors’ rescue.

Taylor added to his defensive reinforcements by bringing on Leo Hjelde, at the expense of Hugill.  

It was backs to the wall stuff near the end, and Tufan wasted a late chance by blasting over before Jones attempted to bulldoze his way to goal, but a masse of Millers bodies halted his progress.

Against all the odds, the Millers bizarrely could have won it when sub Conor Washington had a glimpse of goal but the narrow angle worked against him, as he drilled a low effort harmlessly wide of the target.

Full-time: Hull City 0 Rotherham United 0   

Hull City 0

Rotherham United 0

Teams: Hull- Darlow, Coyle, Greaves, A Jones, Allahyar, Ebiowei, Longman (Tufan 53) , McLoughlin, Traore, Seri, Slater. Unused- Ingham, Elder, Docherty, Vaughan, Woods, Simons.

Rotherham- Johansson, Peltier (Harding 69), Wright, Humphreys, Bramall, Coventry, Lindsay (Odoffin 90), Fosu, Ogbene (Washington 90), Hugill (Hjelde 85), Ferguson (Quina 69). Unused- Vickers, Kelly.

Referee: D Webb

Attendance: 23432 (2018)