The Weston Report: Anything But Run Of The Millers Opening Day!
Sunday, 10th Aug 2014 11:58 by Ryan Weston

After a summer of watching teams show England how football should be played, erasing the play-off final from the sky planner and more than one nightmare about that goal, it was particularly great to be back at The iPro.

A new season, a clean slate and a superb summer of keeping the outgoing’s door firmly shut. For the first time in an age, players and pundits alike have tipped the Rams for big things their numbers in the pre-season predictions. With bold predictions however, comes pressure. How will the young players cope? I for one had been counting down the days from May 24th, waiting to find out.

Bathed in opening-day sunshine, the teams emerged for a new campaign with contrasting aims. The visitors, one would imagine, would see survival as a solid return, with the Rams looking for a minimum top-six finish. Showing one predictable change from the side that beat fallen Scottish ‘giants’ Rangers last-weekend, with Buxton recovering from his hip-flexor problem (the new metatarsal it seems), the opening salvos suggested as much.

We began with urgency akin to that of visiting gaffer Steve Evans spotting a McDonalds. A crisp, high-tempo first five sadly didn’t set the tone for the rest of the game.

It became apparent early on that Rotherham is not prepared to just make up the numbers. With ex-Rams Pringle and a greedy so-and-so in the midfield, they look organised and resolute, content to play on the counter. As expected, we saw plenty of the ball, with Christie and Forsyth both producing good quality balls into the danger area from wide positions, albeit with no reward.

As the game settled - Rotherham began to find their Championship feet. To the delight of the majority of the crowd, greedy Green screwed a half-chance wide in a rare foray forwards in the opening twenty.

Our midfield was it normal busy self, with Hughes looking excellent in the holding midfield role, his obvious love of a tackle proving effective. At times though, Bryson found himself pushed towards the left, with Dawkins coming a little too far inside for my liking.

Still, it was nearly him that broke the shackles with the opening goal. Showing a change of pace, his curling effort from outside the box took a nick off a defender and flew just wide. Too often though, our usual high-tempo was lacking, with Martin starved of any real service. When we did flick the switch though, our full-backs were involved, with a great cross from Christie the catalyst for our next chance.

More in the Brayford than Wisdom mould, our summer acquisition from Coventry seems to relish getting forwards. From better build-up play, he found himself in space, having time to look up before producing a great ball onto the head of Russell. Doing everything right, the Scot produced the best out of Collin in the Rotherham goal, with him pushing the ball away with his left-hand while wrong-footed.

Instead of kicking on, it was Rotherham who then came closest to opening the scoring. From the first whistle, their tactics seemed to rely heavily on set-pieces, with balls tossed into our area at any opportunities, particularly from long throws.

On this occasion though, it was from a corner that the threat was posed. Pringle’s kick found the head of Arnason, whose flicked header was smuggled off the line by Hughes on the far stick. A let-off from the most obvious threat. Revell also missed a half-chance from the dead-ball as half-time loomed, a half which had certainly flattered to deceive. Patience and a higher-tempo were required if we were to fashion a victory against a well-drilled side, something that we will face a lot from away sides this season.

The second-half started much like the first, with Christie’s flashing ball across the box evading everyone as we started brightly. Any tempo though was swiftly broken, with Rotherham quickly settling back into frustration mode.

Hughes was still impressing, a superb tackle on Frecklington igniting the crowd of 30,000 plus. It was a surprise then to see him replaced soon after, a neck complaint apparently the reason, despite his top efforts.

What resulted then was a debut for new man Mascarell (or Mascherano as someone near me said!) Immediately, you could see the lad has a bit of flair about him, although he did play an absolute shocking ball straight to greedy, which prompted an amusing chant of, ‘send him back!’

Come the hour and the visitors saw their best chance come and go. The one Derbyshire that will not get cheered at the iPro found himself free in the box, but his header drifted wide on the far-post. A finish he picked up in training at the Kuwati City Ground Arena Stadium Venue Bowl Dome. Or whatever it is called now….

Ward was introduced in place of the ineffective Russell as we searched for something to spark us. Bryson saw a header snuffed out from yet another Christie cross, before a rare-passage of good play saw the Scot combine with Martin to release Dawkins free into the box, with the winger ultimately not able to make a clean contact.

With countless misplaced balls aimed towards the full-backs ending up as throw-ins and with the crowd becoming restless, new-boy Best was introduced, somewhat surprisingly on the left-wing.

Inside the last-ten minutes, with the game drifting, we produced a moment of magic. Pringle was dispossessed well by Christie and with appeals for a foul waved away, the right-back embarked on another mazy run. With my attention momentarily focused on the ref who completed an excellent tumble with forward-roll, Christie was at the by-line.

Showing great composure, he checked back inside and cut-back to Hendrick just inside the box. The Irishman picked his spot before producing a superb curling first-time effort into the top corner.

Relief!

Of course, with this being a Derby County game, it was never going to be an uneventful last five minutes. Ward wasted a great opportunity by screwing wide on the break, with Best and Bryson better placed.

Inside the four minutes of stoppage time, Best then broke away down the left but instead of taking it to the corner; he instead found Collins’ gloves. It very nearly proved costly as the Millers broke, culminating in Pringle producing a fine ball in. The stage was set as greedy got the run of Forsyth and powered a header down. Grant though had not read his lines and produced a wonderful plunging stop to his left to preserve the lead.

The danger had not passed though as from the next ball in, a scramble fell kindly to Agard, who took a touch before side-footing past Grant but not Forsyth, who slid to clear again from the line.

All collective hearts were in mouths as the corner came in, and you could literally hear the communal exhale as a volley was smashed into the South Stand. As Grant cleared the goal-kick, that was that and an opening day win was in the bag.

It was certainly not the free-flowing Rams that we have become accustomed too, but a win is a win nonetheless. Credit must go to Rotherham, who probably did deserve a point. Winning ugly though breeds confidence. Hopefully our Wembley hangover has gone. Maybe I won’t have that nightmare tonight.

We Said / They Said - Match Reaction:

We Said — Steve McClaren

"Credit to our players, they have got through on character after the first 25 minutes when I thought we were excellent. We got a little frustrated and lost our patience a bit and I thought it was heading for a draw.”

"But we have that quality to win games which we did in the end."

They said - Steve 'Burger King' Evans

"Derby supporters will go away and know their team was in a tough game. Sometimes you don't get what you deserve.”

"Many people around the country thought when they saw we were away at Derby it would be lambs to the slaughter. But we aren't going to be lambs to the slaughter for anyone."

Weston’s Player Ratings

Lee Grant — 7: A good first clean-sheet. Brilliant stop from Green in dying moments.

Craig Forsyth — 6: Solid start, guilty of not getting to by-line enough though and looking for Martin too early.

Cyrus Christie — Weston’s Star Man 8: Really good debut, looked good going forwards and dealt well with defensive work. Good assist for the goal too.

Jake Buxton — 7: Dependable and efficient as per. Brilliant considering he trained once in the week.

Richard Keogh — 7: A good display from the skipper. Hopefully will bring his confidence back.

Jeff Hendrick — 8: Showed some neat touches and ran well with the ball. Great finish to win us the game.

Craig Bryson — 6: Quiet by his own lofty standards.

Will Hughes — 8: Would have probably got star man if he would have stayed on. Great energy and strong in the tackle.

Simon Dawkins — 6: Drifted in and out of the game. Looked threatening at times.

Johnny Russell — 6: Quiet after a lively start.

Chris Martin — 7: Good display, looked good when service was provided. Also showed a turn of pace to skin the full-back!

Subs

Omar Mascarell — 6: Looks confident and will grow with more training.

Jamie Ward — 6: Made a couple of things happen but end-product lacking.

Leon Best — 6: Showed a couple of glimpses.