Boss Matt Taylor believed his Millers side were not far off being worthy of a share of the spoils in South Wales but two second-half goals from Kion Etete and Perry Ng put pay to their chances.
The Millers – who are beset by a host of injuries - were more than a match for their in-form hosts for large spells of the Cardiff City Stadium clash but Taylor felt Cardiff’s first goal turned the tide of the encounter.
“For the first hour of the game, it was the best we have been away from home in terms of not being spectacular but structured. We lacked a little bit of quality going forward but it was a really positive start to the game, and first half in general.
“We kept them at arms’ length for the majority of the first half. We had a clean sheet at half time. We were looking for them more in terms of attacking as the second half progressed, but, one moment of concentration on the hour mark has allowed them to get ahead in the game.
“I’m disappointed with how we let them get into the channel. I said to the players after, it was like time stood still at that moment. We just got caught in-between and that was the killer moment for us. We did not cover the space. You could say it was a good cross and a good header but we needed to stop the ball at source.
“We changed it to try and chase it. We created a few opportunities and Arvin (Appiah) was looking a bright spark but the second goal is a sucker punch for us.
“The first goal really hurt us because that changes the feel of the game. The ease with how that first goal went in was really frustrating for us.”