Town’s first ever visit to the New York Stadium ended in defeat as a goal in either half from Matt Derbyshire and ex-Blues loanee Conor Sammon saw Rotherham to a 2-0 victory. Derbyshire nodded home the opener in the 38th minute and Sammon added the second on 64, while Daryl Murphy, who failed to take two early opportunities for Town, saw a header cleared off the line and Luke Chambers had an effort well saved.
Murphy, back after missing the Wigan game with a calf strain, took over from Noel Hunt up front in an otherwise unchanged Town side.
Rotherham included three former Blues loanees, Sammon, Frazer Richardson and Paul Green.
Murphy had a golden chance to net his 19th goal of the season after only 18 seconds when he latched onto skipper Chambers’s ball down the right and outmuscled Millers’ captain Craig Morgan. The Irishman brought the ball into the area but scuffed his shot to keeper Adam Collin when he really should have scored.
On seven, Chambers scraped a weak effort wide with neither side having been able to create another clear-cut chance. The home side’s greatest threat so far had been a long throw from Kari Arnason on the left towards Sammon which the Blues defence repelled.
Murphy had another opportunity to add to his season’s haul in the ninth minute when Jay Tabb’s corner from the left landed at his feet having been missed by Christophe Berra, but the Town number 10 blazed over. The Blues striker, who complained that he had been dragged back as he unleashed his shot, again probably should have scored.
Cole Skuse picked up the game’s first booking for a foul on the breaking Paul Green in the 17th minute. From Ben Pringle’s freekick, Arnason’s downward header deflected through to Bartosz Bialkowski.
McGoldrick sent a weak shot through to Collin on 27, then a minute later Chambers exchanged passes with Bru but the Town captain’s shot was blocked.
Moments later, with the Blues briefly putting the Millers under pressure, Bru and Tabb interchanged on the left but the Mauritian international failed to find a team-mate with his low cross. The ball eventually ran out to Skuse, whose strike failed to trouble Collin.
Just after the half hour, after Town had cleared a corner, Richie Smallwood floated a ball into the area towards Derbyshire but just beyond the former England U21 international.
On 33 Tabb smashed a powerful volley wide after the ball had fallen perfectly for him on the left just outside the area.
Rotherham had been at their most threatening from set pieces throughout and in the 38th minute a freekick on the left saw them take the lead. Pringle sent the ball in, Conor Newton flicked it on, Morgan nodded it back across the area from the right and Derbyshire headed past Bialkowski from close range.
Town were unable create an opening from which they could get back on terms prior to the break.
On the balance of the half overall, the Blues probably didn’t deserve to be behind with the Millers’ goal having come from their first serious shot on goal of the afternoon.
Up to then Town, without ever really playing particularly well, had had the better of another not overly enthralling game’s opportunities with Murphy having had two very good chances to add to his 18 goals.
Newton lashed well wide six minutes after the break prior to a double Town change. Teddy Bishop and Freddie Sears took over from Anderson and Tabb with the Blues moving to 4-3-3.
Town went close to getting on terms in the 54th minute after Zeki Fryers had been booked for a foul on Bru on the right. Skuse sent the ball into the area, Chambers headed goalwards but Collin rose superbly to tip over. From the resultant short corner, Chambers nodded Mings’s cross well over.
On 58 Derbyshire was unable to divert Pringle’s cross from the left past Bialkowski but in the main it was Town on the front foot with the substitutions having made a difference.
A minute later, Mings’s long distance shot landed at Sears’s feet five yards outside the area and the former Colchester man hit shot on the turn which Collin uncomfortably bundled behind down to his left. Sears took the flagkick himself and found Murphy, whose powerful goal-bound header was nodded off the line by Fryers.
The Blues continued to push, Chambers doing well on the right of the box but twice his crosses were cut out, the second falling to Bishop, whose shot was also blocked.
But despite Town having been on top since the break, the Millers increased their lead in the 64th minute, again from a set piece. Pringle whipped over a corner from the left and, as Berra and Arnason tangled, the ball was knocked down to Sammon, who gleefully slammed home his second Millers goal against his former loan club.
The Blues had a chance to pull goal back in the 69th minute when Arnason missed Chambers’s low cross from the right and the ball fell to Murphy. The Irishman turned a shot goalwards but it struck Morgan at point-blank and the ball ran harmlessly to Collin.
Another former Town loanee Green volleyed Pringle’s deep left-wing cross against Skuse on 74 before the Blues replaced McGoldrick with Noel Hunt and the Millers Sammon with Danny Ward.
Sears saw a shot blocked after exchanging passes with Hunt on 84, then at the other end Ward scuffed wide. Moments later, Derbyshire was replaced by Jordan Bowery.
Town never looked like getting back into it in the closing minutes and the Millers might have increased their lead in injury time when Bowery was sent away one-on-one with Bialkowski but the Polish keeper blocked and the ball bounced over the bar.
The Blues were left rueing failing to take their chances, while Rotherham made the most of their opportunities. Derbyshire’s goal was the Millers’ first significant shot on goal, while Sammon’s second came just as Town were starting to put the South Yorskshiremen under pressure.
Overall, there wasn’t a lot in a typical Championship battle, while manager Mick McCarthy is likely to be less than pleased to see his side concede twice from set pieces.
The Blues drop to fifth in the table, now six points off the top, having taken just four points from their last 15 since the turn of the year.
Rotherham: Collin, Richardson, Arnason, Morgan (c), Fryers, Newton, Green, Smallwood, Pringle, Sammon (Ward 75), Derbyshire (Bowery 85). Unused: Thompson, Broadfoot, Milsom, Ward, Hammill, Frecklington.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Bru, Anderson (Sears 52), Tabb (Bishop 52), Murphy, McGoldrick (N Hunt 75). Unused: Kenny, Parr, Clarke, S Hunt. Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey). Att: 10,336 (Town: 1,879).