Boro are well beaten by the Millers in Sky Bet League 1
Stevenage 0 Rotherham United 3
Sky Bet League 1
In what was their biggest home defeat of the season - and their second successive League 1 reversal - Stevenage were convincingly put to the sword by Rotherham United this afternoon (Saturday).
A first-half strike from Ben Pringle and two second-half goals in quick succession from Claude Davis and Michael O’Connor saw the Millers to what was in no way an exaggerated scoreline, though for Stevenage an injury to Chris Day towards the end of the first half could not have helped their cause.
Boro began the match with one change in their line-up from the midweek Johnstone’s Paint Trophy victory over Leyton Orient with the suspended Roarie Deacon making way for Greg Tansey.
Graham Westley’s men had an early sight at goal, Simon Heslop firing wide of the post, while for Rotherham O’Connor forced a block out of Peter Hartley after Simon Heslop’s sloppy pass had gifted the ball to United on the edge of the Boro area.
The first goal soon followed, and it went the way of the Millers with Day making the initial save from Kieran Agard only for Pringle to follow up and fire home from inside the area.
Tansey, playing centrally, then popped up to send a superb strike just wide of goal with the game starting to stretch, while at the other end Agard flicked on a Pringle free-kick to force Day to shuffle to his right and tip the ball wide of his post.
The Stevenage goalkeeper was then called into action again, this time making a magnificent stop low to his left after Craig Morgan had got the slightest of touches to O’Connor’s free-kick from the left. The keeper was then Boro’s saviour once more as Rotherham looked for a second, Day tipping O’Connor’s long-distance effort over the bar.
Stevenage made two changes at half-time with Steve Arnold coming on for Chris Day, who was injured in a silly challenge by Lee Frecklington towards the end of the first-half, while Bruno Andrade replaced Tansey.
Arnold was soon into the thick of things as after twice punching clear in a congested area he pulled off a stunning full-stretch save diving to his left to keep out O’Connor’s wonderful volley from more than 20 yards.
Arnold had made a good start to the half, but he failed to clear a free-kick to his far post minutes later allowing Davis to beat him to the ball to convert for 2-0 from a couple of yards out.
The day then got worse for the Stevenage substitute when from one of Boro’s corners the hosts gave the ball away and Rotherham broke down the right before O’Connor, the Millers’ stand-out performer on the day, beat Arnold all too easily from 25 yards for 3-0.
With 20 minutes to go Andrade clipped the crossbar with a cross from the right, which until that point had been Stevenage’s best chance of the game, and soon afterwards Heslop forced a solid stop from distance from Collin.
The visitors, though, remained in control of a match as they kept bodies in the Boro half and stopped the hosts from creating too many chances, though Freeman did pick up an Akins pass late on only to fire wide in what was the last chance of the game.
Stevenage: Day (Arnold 46), Smith, Freeman, Jones, Hartley, Morais (Tounkara 82), Tansey (Andrade 46), Doughty, Heslop, Zoko, Akins. Subs: Wedgbury, Parrett, Johnson, Burrow.
Rotherham United: Collin, Brindley, Skarz, Davis (Mills 85), Frecklington (Tidser 80), Revell, O’Connor (Milsom 78), Tubbs, Pringle, Morgan, Agard. Subs: Shearer, Eaves, Rowe.
Ref: James Linnington
Att: 2,814
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