Author Spotlight
Nick Fromont
Rotherham United 3 – 2 Morecambe
Attendance: 2876
An injury time Lewis Grabban screamer meant victory for the Millers, and a first home victory for new Rotherham boss Steve Evans.
Following a dull opening to the match, Lewis Grabban broke the deadlock on 22 minutes with his first goal of the match, a low powerful shot into the bottom left hand corner of the goal; so powerful in fact that the game was stopped for 5 minutes as the nets had to be repaired!
The Millers pressed for a second but got caught on the break, as Gareth Evans lost the ball and was punished by the counter-attacking Morecambe, a swift move finished by Jordan Burrow who slotted the ball between veteran Rotherham keeper Andy Warrington’s legs.
The teams went into the changing rooms at 1-1, but it was Evans’ words which made more of a difference at the start of the second half, with Rotherham coming out strongly and capitalising to regain the lead. A strong run from Evans down the left finished in a dangerous cross into the box which was knocked down by Alex Revell and emphatically volleyed home by Jason Taylor.
At 2-1 Rotherham appeared to be cruising to victory, but a silly mistake from centre-back Ryan Cresswell, already on a booking, gave Morecambe a way back into the game. A long ball from the Shrimps defence left Cresswell chasing striker Danny Carlton into his own area, he brought down the Morecambe striker in the box and the referee had no choice; a penalty to Morecambe and a second yellow card and marching orders for Cresswell. Joe Redshaw duly finished the penalty into the bottom left hand corner of Warrington’s goal.
It looked as though the game would finish 2-2, but Rotherham’s top scorer Lewis Grabban had other ideas as he picked the ball up on the right hand side, 25 yards from goal, and unleashed an unstoppable curling shot into the top right corner of the Morecambe net. The second of the day for Grabban, his 21st of the season, and a goal worthy of winning any game.
