Rotherham boss Neil Redfearn has revealed that he used Town’s performance in their recent 5-2 victory at the New York Stadium as a blueprint for the Millers to follow ahead of their 3-0 home win against Bristol City on Saturday.

“I mentioned it in my pre-match talk, Ipswich and the valuable lesson they taught us about life in this division when they beat us at home,” Redfearn told the Sheffield Star.

“Basically, for 20 to 25 minutes, Ipswich beat us up. They kept slinging it in behind us, turning us round. They got the midfielders up the pitch and won every second ball. It crushed us.

“We want to come out and do something similar, and I think the boys are buying into it.”

He added: “Before we kicked off, I watched Ipswich play Charlton. Mick knows the division and understands the division.

“By and large, when you wrestle the initiative away from sides, you tend to get a foothold in the game, and then football takes care of itself because we have got players who can play.”

Blues midfielder Luke Hyam made his first senior appearance in 10 months as an 82nd minute sub for Rotherham having joined on loan until January 23rd on Wednesday.

Photo: Action Images

ArnieM added 12:49 - Dec 1 So basically Town softens up their opponents by constantly lumping the ball over their heads, putting them on the back foot with an aerial assault. ........."the football takes care of itself" At Charlton we kept banging the ball into their box , the final killer and very clever chip back into the box by AMN for Murphy to finish off a classic example of Town's "softening up" approach. The football came later with Town 3rd. Pure pass and move football. It's strange hearing about our tactics from a rival manager. When you think about what Redfern has said. It becomes crystal clear how MM/TC operate. The initial softening up approach is the ugly part. But time and again we use it, usually in the first half. The second half we invariably seem to play the ball more on the ground. I'm expecting the same on Friday.

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blueblood66 added 13:16 - Dec 1 'It crushed us'..love it.
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skusesrightpeg added 13:29 - Dec 1 To be honest Tommy Smiths push in the face of Solly for Murphs goals was a good example of it but I don't mind. But it Works for Stoke it Can for us I like to see a physical Ipswich team GET INTO THEM and all that
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Fatboy added 14:06 - Dec 1 I must be one of the few people who doesn't think Smith's hand in the defender's face was a foul. If you watch Smith as the ball comes to him, he is already in position and doesn't move his feet at all. The defender has his arms up as he tries to jostle for position and all Smith does is holds him off (if Smith had pushed the defender out of position and moved to where the ball was going, then I agree it would have been a foul). Players with less integrity than Smith might have allowed themselves to be fouled and gone over looking for a penalty. The tell tale sign was that neither the defender nor any of his teammates appealed for a foul.

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theipswichman added 15:30 - Dec 1 I agree with you, as did Ian Holloway (not that it means anything)
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