A goal in either half from Ben Wiles and Shane Ferguson saw Rotherham to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the Blues, extending the Millers’ unbeaten run to 15 games and taking them to the top of League One. Wiles opened the scoring on 24 with a shot from the edge of the box with Ferguson adding the second a minute before the hour with the Blues never looking like getting back into the match.

Conor Chaplin came into the Town side for Sone Aluko, who was absent from the 18, but in the number 10 role with Bersant Celina on the right, while Fraser started on the left with Kyle Edwards on the bench.

Matt Penney was back on the bench having been left out of the squad for the last three league games.

For Rotherham, 12-goal top scorer Michael Smith returned from a one-match ban, while midfielder Ollie Rathbone didn’t make the trip having been ill.

The Millers were forced into a late change with keeper Josh Vickers dropping out and sub Viktor Johansson starting.

After the teams taking a knee had been warmly applauded, the game got under way with neither side threatening in a high tempo opening.

Rotherham forced the first save of the game in the 12th minute when Jamie Lindsay hit a curling effort from the edge of the box and Christian Walton did well to get across to his left to tip away for a corner.

Town were seeing a lot of the ball but with the Millers very quickly on to the man in possession they didn’t create a chance until the 21st minute when Janoi Donacien’s header into the box from Macauley Bonne’s left-sided cross was half-cleared to Fraser, who scuffed his shot wide.

Four minutes later, the visitors took the lead. Wiles was allowed to bring the ball to the edge of the area unchallenged from deep before hitting a shot to Walton’s left and into the net. It looked stoppable and the keeper’s reaction suggested he felt he ought to have done better.

It was a poor goal to concede from a Town perspective and handed the impetus to the South Yorkshiremen, who immediately went looking for a second, Lee Evans making an important block on the left of the box and Fraser eventually clearing after the Blues had made heavy weather of getting it out of their area.

A minute later, a clever Town move down the left ended with Bonne losing his footing as he looked to cut Chaplin’s pass into the six-yard box.

In the 31st minute, Freddie Ladapo shot across the face of Walton’s goal from the right from Smith’s pass.

The Blues were having long spells with the ball but without being able to break through the visitors’ determined defence.

The Millers were looking far more dangerous on the break and on 38 skipper Richard Wood headed Ferguson’s free-kick across the face of goal but with Rarmani Edmonds-Green and Ladapo unable to reach it at the far post, fortunately for the Blues.

On 40 Lindsay was shown the first yellow card of the game for stopping Town from taking a quick free-kick, then four minutes later Michael Ihiekwe joined him in the book for dissent, which he continued as he walked away from referee Ward who called him back but decided not to issue any further sanction.

The niggly Rotherham fouls in the closing stages of the half meant the game had little flow, although the Blues won a late corner but which ultimately came to nothing.

The scoreline at the break was a fair reflection of the opening period with the Blues having been unable to lay a glove on the well-organised Millers, who had looked much more of a threat when breaking, although Town will feel they played a big part in Wiles’s goal.

Town had seen plenty of the ball but had been hesitant in playing the final ball into the box or taking a shot with their spells in possession all too often seeing them make their way towards the edge of the area then away again as they struggled to find an opening.

Rotherham really should have doubled their lead three minutes after the restart when Smith tried to head down to Ladapo from Ferguson’s left-wing cross when he should have nodded at goal and failed to find his team-mate by some distance.

Town weren’t too far away from levelling in the 50th minute when Evans curled a free-kick just over from 25 yards after Fraser had been fouled by Lindsay.

After a shaky moment when Blues defenders and Ladapo both failed to get anything on one-time Town trialist Chiedozie Ogbene’s cross from the right, the ball eventually reaching Walton, Town worked their way into the box on the left of the Rotherham area before Chaplin’s low cross was cleared.

Town found some space in the Millers’ half for the first time in the 58th minute but Fraser was unable to find Bonne with his through ball, much to the frustration of the home support.

And a minute later, the visitors doubled their lead. Ogbene worked his way past Clements on the right, Ladapo's effort was blocked but Ferguson was able to slam into the roof of the net at the far post to claim his first goal for the Millers.

Town had a mountain to climb at 2-0 against a side against whom they were yet to manage a shot on target and it was no surprise when manager Paul Cook made changes in the 63rd minute with Edwards and Penney taking over from Evans and Clements.

Town continued to huff and puff without looking particularly dangerous, while Rotherham came very close to netting a third when Smith headed Ferguson’s left-wing cross over from close range following a long spell in possession.

The Blues swapped Chaplin for Joe Pigott in the 73rd minute with a Rotherham third looking more likely than Town pulling one back.

Penney did well to work his way in from the left on 74 but failed to beat the first man with his low cross. Moments later, a Town corner from the right came to nothing.

Edwards did well to beat Ogbene as the game moved towards its final 10 minutes but failed to find Celina with his cutback. Moments later, the Millers swapped Irish international Ogbene and Ferguson for Mickel Miller and Wes Harding.

On 87 Dan Barlaser was cautioned for time-wasting then Edmundson joined him in the book presumably for scuffling ahead of the free-kick.

In injury time, Pigott looped a header at goal which Johansson claimed under his bar to sarcastic cheers from the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

Morsy scuffed a decent opportunity wide before the final whistle was greeted by muted boos from a frustrated home support.

Town had been comfortably beaten by a well-drilled Rotherham side who prevented the Blues from managing a shot on target until injury time at one end while carving out enough chances to win the game, more than 2-0 had Smith taken his opportunity.

While the Blues ought to have had the Sunderland game won before the Black Cats’ two late goals, Rotherham showed that they’re a level above most of the rest of the sides towards the top of the division

They never allowed Town a sniff and once they had established their lead, where the points were going was in little doubt.

A chastening lesson for the Blues, who are down to 13th ahead of Sunday’s home game against bottom club Crewe Alexandra.

Town: Walton, Donacien, Nsiala, Edmundson, Clements (Penney 63), Morsy (c), Evans (Edwards 63), Chaplin (Pigott 73), Celina, Fraser, Bonne. Unused: Hladky, Burgess, Vincent-Young, Harper.

Rotherham: Johansson, Barlaser, Wood (c), Wiles, Ladapo (Sadlier 86), Ogbene (Miller 81), Lindsay, Ferguson (Harding 81), Ihiekwe, Edmonds-Green, Smith. Unused: Vickers, Sadlier, Grigg, Kayode, Odoffin. Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey). Att: 18,221 (Rotherham: 267).

Photo: Matchday Images

runaround added 22:28 - Nov 23 Fair play to Rotherham who looked like champions and were the better team from first to last whistle. They were everything we weren't today, attacking, aggressive, strong, pacy, organised, dominant, decisive and clinical. Since about 20 minutes into the Oldham home game we have suddenly decided to slow all our attacks down to walking pace before going constantly from side to side once we get to 25 yards from goal before eventually losing the ball. We just don't put decent delivery in the box and don't have any shots. Cook should be getting so much more from this squad of players. We are leaving ourselves a mountain to climb and have to start a winning run now

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Eddie1985 added 22:30 - Nov 23 I never thought cook was right but even im shocked at how poor we have been. Sometimes managers are just a bad fit at a club, best to twist now and hope for a late surge for playoffs
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Drifter3012 added 22:30 - Nov 23 The reality is that we were beaten by a far better team. Smith is a class above any of our team and they were far better organised in all areas. I agree that Cook needs to have a new plan to use in games like this, but I don't really think any formation or formula of the players we have available would have got much from this match. We simply have to accept that the likes of Rotherham easily outclass us. Not easy to say but that is a fact. We will probably have the same with Derby next season. Cook needs to get these lads on the training ground trying some different formations. If he is not willing to do that soon, then I cannot see him lasting long in the new year. We have had a tough run, hoping that with some easier fixtures we can put a good run together and get back in play off contention.

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churchmans added 22:31 - Nov 23 Everybody knows our defence is pony!! Nsiala and donacian where rubbish under lambert and rubbish under cook! There not good enough! And morsy did not play his best tonight! Imo it is because he knew a 5th booking means a suspension! One up front and 4 games without a goal for bonne! Im sorry but cook must go to save our season! We not making playoffs at this rate
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SickParrot added 22:32 - Nov 23 Some telling statistics: 5 shots and only 1 on target (92nd minute); 10 home league games and only 3 wins; 19 league games in total and only 24 points. Just not good enough. We have no chance of promotion this season and PC has failed to convince me that he can make us contenders next season. I hope that unlike PC the ownets have a plan B.
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Theipswich added 22:38 - Nov 23 I thought we were very very poor and were completely outplayed in every area . Not one player came out with any credit. Our full backs were shocking .. Nsialsa hopeless and Donacien just kept punting the ball skywards… no thrust no fantasy … the game is up
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Linkboy13 added 22:40 - Nov 23 Out classed to night Rotherham hardly broke sweat. It's easy to criticise the players but we could have made eleven changes and it wouldn't made a difference. The main criticism has got to be at the manager when it was one nil and obviously not working that's when the changes should have been made. We signed nineteen players in the summer some supposedly with championship material didn't see it tonight. Another season beckons in Div one next season tonight's game made it clear we are not good enough to get promoted.

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warktheline added 22:50 - Nov 23 Rubbish! Unacceptable, unable to seriously challenge for promotion as things stand presently!
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Johnnyo added 22:52 - Nov 23 They were better than us all over the pitch,do think we got a one in Edmundson I'm afraid Toto is the new Chambers
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Bert added 22:52 - Nov 23 We played in slow motion and got what we deserved. We have a squad with some classy individuals but class in league one is not what it is about. We need to out muscle the opposition but as we are becoming oh so predictable we also need to out think the opposition which is down to Cook to work out. There is plenty of time to reach the play offs but we cannot simply play plan A in this league because every other manager knows how to counter us.

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EssexTractor added 22:52 - Nov 23 Cooks interview Dreadful- Rotherham were great , their manager is great…just applauded them as though he knew defeat would come without a ball being kicked. And we could see why after a few minutes..we had no plan, no cohesion , no energy. Why? because there seems to be no coaching , no forward planning…why Do we start home matches as though we have never been to Portman Road before… For how many years has the crowd desired demanded proper midfield players. I wrote after the Doncaster match how superb Morsy was ….he was then but it was Doncaster ..tonight he and Evans were truthfully woeful -no drive no forward passes ,,backwards sidewards…Bonne is now an also man , mainly because he receives no service..Chaplin against their beanpole defenders and Walton thrashes the ball in the air toward him. Edmundson showed more enthusiasm than anyone else ..again … Toto is so nonchalant Celina …useless ..and that is being kind Fraser ..lightweight … Rotherham were on to us .,gave us no room ..wanted to win ..properly coached . American owners have seen that the fans are there , the love for the club is there, but will realise that the good faith may dissipate if the recent ineffective on field performances continue with a One Trick Manager…..

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cat added 22:58 - Nov 23 Difficult to find the words to describe that performance so I'll keep it simple - Fkn Sh!te
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Bazza8564 added 23:00 - Nov 23 Well tonight was a new low point and im a big fan of the new regime but we are going backwards at the moment. I'm not a fan of tinkering with a formation that has been seeing us playing great football but tonight even I was pleased to see Pigott and Bonne get to have a longer go together. Sadly, it actually got worse! Pigott and Bonne didnt win a single ball in the air or on the ground in that 20 minute spell, we cant cross for sh*t. Why were doing step overs losing 2-0, Celina and Edwards both, and sadly with Burns missing injured and Aluko losing his father suddenly our wide play, a key necessity if you're going to play 4231, was non existent. Morsy looks dizzy if he gets in the oppositions half, Evans wants to go sideways and sits too deep, and as others have said we have three number 10s playing and no pace, no penetration, no swiftness of ball movement and no drive. This was down there with Bolton and Accrington for me, and as much as i believe the club will bounce back and get on a run at some point to get ourselves back in with a chance of reaching the playoffs, it looks a distant dream reflecting on this performance. The reality is, as people have said repeatedly, we dont have an effective plan B. I am more convinced than ever that Bonne and Pigott is essentially two identical style players who wont play well together and I still believe that. If we are to develop an effective plan B, we need a Norwood or a Jackson to offer something different, or preferably somone new without the baggage those two have. I really dont think the Board will act in haste, but should we fail to win both these next two home games with decent performances and decent margins, sure they will have to ask at what point these weaknesses should be addressed.....

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Orraman added 23:02 - Nov 23 As soon as Cook was appointed I expressed my totally underwhelmed feelings on this site. He was not a manager who had ever caught my eye and yet so many people went crazy as if we had appointed the second coming of Pep Guardiola. After only two games he slagged off the entire team and in one early game he went on the field at the end and shook the hands of every opposing player whilst completely blanking his own players. He said he would never criticise individual players yet in the ensuing weeks he did a hatchet job on many of them. I saw him as an untrustworthy individual then full of his own self importance and thinking that his brand of Scouse humour would carry him through hard times. I have absolutely nothing against Scouse humour having enjoyed many laughs with proper Liverpool comedians but I find him completely unfunny. However at long last, apart from about a dozen fellow posters who have had similar thoughts as myself from very early on, it seems that at long last many more are now coming to realise that he is fast embedding himself as the worst Ipswich Town manager ever.

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shakytown added 23:06 - Nov 23 Time to live up to your name Gamechanger. Cook is clearly lost and has no idea what to do next. how much longer is this train wreck going to continue??????
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multiplescoregasms added 23:07 - Nov 23 Does anyone have a mobile number for Daniel Farke?
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Irishblueboy99 added 23:09 - Nov 23 Get absolutely no pleasure in saying this, but nothing is going to change we have seen enough, look at the stats COOK OUT NOW Save our season b4 it's too late
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StowTractorBoy added 23:20 - Nov 23 Everything looked so rosy at the start of the season but its now back to normal for our beloved Club. After tonights' dreadful performance, the players and more notably Cook should be ashamed as his tactics are not working. Rotherham were hungry and we could not match them. Our one up front striker is not working and we never looked close to scoring. Alarm bells must be ringing for the owners as the wheels are coming off dramatically and Cooks' tenancy must soon be on the line if we do not achieve results over the next few games. The feel good factor has disappeared and I really worry about our current position (a) do we change the Manager and (b) if so who do we get to replace him.

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RobsonWark added 23:25 - Nov 23 Johnnyo added 22:52 - Nov 23 "I'm afraid Toto is the new Chambers" No one could possibly be as bad as Chambers was! He makes even Penny look kind of ok.
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Henz10 added 00:33 - Nov 24 Oh dear. Watched on ifollow and that was a shocker. Sad to think how we've beaten Barcelona and Inter to getting outclassed by the mighty Rotherham. Wouldn't normally be so frustrated and upset but that was just inept. No ideas or creativity and once again he's shown himself to be tactically useless. Fraser looks lost and playing Bonne against three central defenders was naive to say the least. What's even more worrying is his clear lack of flexibility or ability to change a game with a substitution. We're better than we have been ( not saying much ) however with the budget we have and the size of the club 13th in a poor league is not good enough. I don't like sacking managers halfway through a season and I'm not sure who could replace him however patience is wearing thin and the feel good factor will soon be gone. If we don't go up in the next two seasons it's going to be very difficult COYB

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Henz10 added 00:55 - Nov 24 RobsonWark not sure what Chambers has done to you but he's no longer at the club so let's move on👍🏻
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Steelmonkey added 01:23 - Nov 24 The last time we played them at PR I thought they imposed themselves so physically on us and literally kicked us off the park, tonight they imposed themselves again but this time they outplayed us in all areas of the pitch both tactically and physically. Well played Rotherham. We looked short on stamina and any sort of game plan, sorry Mr Cook but it's just not good enough. It seems as if we are once again destined to remain in this league for at least another season. I don't think our owners are going to put up with our form and current league position for too much longer and that will mean one thing, I don't have to spell it out. At times like tonight we just don't look physically strong enough to compete in this league. We were beaten to the second ball virtually all night, no clear chances of getting anything in the air, no direct shots on goal, no creativity. It hurts me to be sounding so negative but I think that is a clear and honest assessment of tonight's game.

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Minneapolis_ITFC added 02:57 - Nov 24 Comprehensively beaten at home by a club name who's greatest export to the world being Jive Bunny, you got to find humor in it someplace. It's not so much losing, it's just that we didn't seem to try out there or really trouble the opposition. It's almost as if a 'They're top of the league and clearly better than we are' mindset was evident with our players before they took to the field and decided not to try. Cook's insistent one in attack banality has reached near breaking point. They're not one-offs, it's a system he deploys time and again and too often we miss out / lose points because of it. This alone is a major stumbling block not only for Cook but the team and it's entire fanbase with it.

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Henrietta_R_Hippo added 03:17 - Nov 24 Relax you ever credulous lot, PLEASE! It's the juggernaut Alexander next ...just in time to save our LATEST clueless manager's job ...by way of any kind of a on-a-cheap-background victory giving him another couple of imho totally indefensible meters on his already way too long leash! I see no need to directly echo what other sound skeptics has rightly written, tonight and throughout the entirety of "Captain Cooks Perilous Journey II", so I'll will just repeat what I've said many many times during the tenure of the other clueless (or anti-football!) managers during the Evans Era, namely that it's visibly & factually true, in all but the extremely odd game, that: "When Town do win, we do so not BECAUSE of the manger but inherently IN SPITE OF him!!!" And all you die hard Paul The IIII luvers and other all-round happy clappers this is most certainly also the fact & case with Pep Cook and his near 20 handpicked new signings! And when really scrutinized probably even more so than any of his equally so full of themselves in one way or another (Delusion of Grandeur suffering in some cases) predecessors! Besides obviously not spilling too many of our real golden chances it basically takes quite some "celestial happening" lol to a get a 3 pointer under Pep Cookie... say like ehhhh a serious collective off-day by the opposition ...or them being so severely banged up and/or overly managerially poorly set up themselves on the day that nothing can reasonably be expected to work their way as a unit defensively & offensively ...or last but not least they opposition simply being so incredible DUMB as to skip doing their homework on Pep Cookies Town! I.E. not bothering watching tapes, sending scouts etc. so that they simply fail to learn how otherwise EMBARRINGSINLY EASY it is to "find out" how to currently all-out counter the Leam-Richardson-less Pep Cook, incl. counter his mindboggling 1-dimensional 1-plan tactics non-optimal team selection & even substitutions , when playing this this sad sad for all post Royle eternity??? mismanaged club!

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Henrietta_R_Hippo added 04:04 - Nov 24 But since you can't say Cook without saying Gamechanger, well their bed-fellowship is pretty clear nowadays isn't it ? Since they not only decided to keep him after 1) having finalized the take over?, then 2) again after his outright terrible run to seasons end??, and 3) nowadays incoherently appear to have taking on the all too eeeeasy stance of the proverbial "Hear No (This is the toughest League 1 ever) Bullsheit, SEE No wrong" worshipper .... supposedly fine or just blind to & with all the person's, in this case Leam-Richardson-less blatantly obvious football managerial shortcomings., and thus cluelessnes. Here a further word or 2 about ... Gamechanger Yes the are a household name for USL soccer fans, as Rising is not only one of the top clubs but also able to maintain many of the better 2nd tier players in their ranks over there like Asante & Moar .........but ehmm for Town and its fans it has imho become an increasingly IRONIC name I ever I saw one, for an seemingly somewhat **deja** vu ENGLISH football-incompetent/football-indifferent ownership (Again one already well quoted example of this: How can an entire so called super pro and "ambitious" owner group & front office ALLOW a blatantly obvious out-of-his-league-without-Leam Richardson one trick manager to not only both COMPLETELY foook up, read: discourage & unmotivate!!!, the former inept squad as well as with that done of course subsequently foook up the reminder of last season's promotion push too! And next this season, first bragging he needed no coaches at all, then when criticized for it choosing to appoint his very best buddies, buddies with virtually no real or high coaching experience to be hired and handsomely paid, as well "coaches"???!!!). lol Hey, but many thanks for all them blanco cheques lol. Cause indeed the entertainment value of Town is thus occasionally, repeat occasionally! in order (as opposed to under Evans when it was = very rarely). However knowing this "type" of American investors as I happen to do to some degree, I'm pretty sure there is a cold expiring date to them blancos being no-question-asked handed out to Cookie or anybody else for that matter, especially if we linger just one or more years in this beyond awesome 3rd tier Gold Mine. Yes they and the current md mouthpiece keep telling the fanbase it's a long term thing also results & expectation wise ...which again MIGHT initially be the truth, sort of like it's ex post facto true that Evans initially gambled some sizable pesos of his on a honeypot promotion within a year or two ...but here's a doh! like News Flash for you: Rosy PR Talk is dirt cheap, GRINGOS! Clegg-, Milne-, O'Neill- & Lambert- traumatized Town fans in particular should haplessly know by now.

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