"What are you going to find to write about that then?" asked an old mate, a consoling arm around the shoulder.

Before I could offer an answer of "Not much", he had supplied his own.
"Just put 'it were rubbish'."

Which would be fine and pretty much accurate, except it would leave a lot of blank space thereafter.

And blank space is what must be inside the heads of the Millers when asked to explain their efforts in this game.

This degenerated into a woefully inadequate afternoon.

I can't say that it was totally unexpected that it wouldn't be much of a game.

I thought, barring an early goal, the Millers might have a bit of struggle on against a side who are a team of triers, a set of scrappers, a team - with one notable exception and a couple of nippy characters - of limited ability who wouldn't shirk but must have something wrong with them because they'd shipped more goals, 60-odd, than any team in the division.

So, it might be scruffy and not very aesthetic, but the Millers should have enough to come out on top.

Unfortunately, the Millers had very little indeed. And that's being kind.

Let me say for the sake of repeating myself (I said it a fortnight ago) the Millers have done magnificently well this season. They're still fifth, and don't knock it.

They, and all who sail in her, should be mighty proud. Yes, let's applaud the men from Millmoor. The boys done well.

And here's why we should applaud them. Because in this 90 minutes they lacked so much that makes up a decent side.

It might be a one-off, except they've now lost six of the last eight and four of the last five at home.

They have now, from this moment, to demonstrate that they really are up for a fight. They weren't on Saturday.

Yes, you can talk quality, or lack of it, all you like. But when push came to shove, they backed off. Or too many of them did.

Accrington outscrapped them. They outfought them. Yes, they niggled, they argued the toss, they squared up and they gave you the verbals - then they scrapped a bit more, contested for the next ball, and made themselves as awkward and as cussed as possible.

When they met over in Lancashire, the Millers stood up to it. When it came down to fighting their corner here, the Millers didn't win enough battles.

Take the example of central defender Mark Roberts. He was outstanding for Accrington, seemingly winning all the the balls put into the box. Heading it all away.

He looked like the finest centre-half to grace Millmoor since Dave Watson. He's not. He's part of a defence that's shipped 62 goals and hadn't kept a clean sheet in umpteen games until four days earlier.
Did anybody consider, perhaps, as he kept heading away uncontested that they might just challenge him - even a fraction late, if only to ruffle some feathers?

Would dear old Dave Gwyther have stood by and watched him head everything away without giving him a whack for his trouble?

Okay, it sounds a bit crude, but it needed something from the Millers.

Something to spark them rather than keep getting beaten to most things.

Instead, they went insipidly to defeat against a team of triers for whom Andy Todd, hard-working lad though he is, was Player of the Year last season. Which tells you plenty about Stanley, but not all of it bad.

Rotherham might think themselves superior but you still have to prove it and they were dragged down and, in the end, mugged.

Mark Robins, brought up in a culture that preaches total defence of your players, simply couldn't accept this and found he couldn't defend that performance.

Some could, but how many other in the Millers dressing room could look themselves in the eye and feel they'd done themselves justice.

Are they better than this? Are they better than six defeats in eight?

The next few games are going to supply the answers.

Half of the quality and verve shown at Bradford would have been more than adequate. But against opponents who were happy to get a stoppage and stop any rhythm to the game, Rotherham could never shake off dogged, determined opposition.

Only a goal would have helped on that score. But they barely carved out more than one really good chance all game.

When it came along, on 38 minutes, courtesy of a nicely improvised back-heel by Ryan Taylor, Chris O'Grady fired wide of the far post as the keeper came out.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

The good bit was that he was actually in there, in a scoring position and getting the chance. Applaud him for that.

But again he lacked a really ruthless touch. Is it in there? Only he can prove it is

That came at the height of Rotherham's best spell when they were on top and pressing, but they kept being repelled.

With Derek Holmes laboured and O'Grady off the pace, Taylor was the most effective of the three, but not by any stretch as much as he was at Accrington when he made such a difference in the second half.

With the midfield unable to unlock doors, Rotherham barely mustered a decent effort at keeper Kenny Arthur.

At set-pieces they were second best, although it was difficult in a blustery wind which affected the game.

Accrington buzzed about but didn't have anything the Millers hadn't seen before or couldn't handle - except for a wonderful goal.

Ian Craney, for me one of League Two's very best midfielders when he's on his game, played a ball into Paul Mullin, took a short return in his stride and despatched a stunning left-foot rocket from all of 30 yards that left Andy Warrington floundering as it flew into the top corner.

It was all Accy needed to re-double their determined efforts. Rotherham really didn't suggest they had anything to break through the division's leakiest defence.

Andy Warrington's save prevented Shaun Whalley getting a second late on and it was stoppage time before Rotherham conjured up real excitement in a disappointing second half, Ian Sharps having a header deflected not far wide - the challenge by Phil Edwards typified Accy's approach all afternoon.

The game finished with Ian Ross accepting a simple throw-in but mis-controlling and two Accrington players colliding with each other in their attempts to get the ball away. It sort of summed it all up!

Not a perfect day for a debut for 19-year-old left-back Joe Widdowson, on loan from West Ham, booked after just eight minutes for a determined if slightly rash tackle but at least it was a challenge. He was calm on the ball, getting forward in the first half.

At three o'clock, on the day the teams eighth and ninth (Chesterfield and Rochdale) met, a Millers win would have guaranteed them going further ahead of one of their play-off rivals or, if they drew, both.
Therefore it was an important opportunity badly missed!

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