Rotherham United: Millers can prove the doubters wrong - Wood

Captain Richard Wood is looking to prove the doubters wrong during Rotherham's Championship return.
Richard WoodRichard Wood
Richard Wood

The veteran defender was part of the Millers’ embarrassing relegation the last time they were in the second tier, finishing with just 23 points and 18 points shy of safety.

However, those thoughts have been banished and despite being tipped to go straight back down the squad is optimistic they can stay up.

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The Millers head to Griffin Park today to take on Brentford, a side who constantly punch above their financial weight in the Championship.

And Wood insists a fast start will put any worries to bed with the Millers bidding for a first opening-day win since the 2011/12 season.

Wembley hero Wood, who bagged a brace in the play-off final, stressed: “Everyone will look at us as a small team and say we are relegation favourites but we don’t see it like that.

“I’m sure we will prove people wrong.

“It’s a tough league, so we have to start well.

“We need to get as many points as we can as soon as possible.

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“The longer it goes without picking up points, then you can struggle.

“If we can start off flying, which we hope we can do, then that will be great for us.

“Everyone wants to play in these kind of games.

“You want to go to big stadiums and cause team’s problems.”

The Millers have failed to win at Griffin Park in three attempts since Mark Bradley scored the only goal of the game in their 1-0 victory in 2013.

And on the Bees manager Paul Warne said: “Brentford is going to be a really tough start for us.

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“If I went by SkyBet or any other betting thing then a lot of those have them to be in the play-offs and some even have them as third.

“No disrespect to Accrington, but if we were still in League One and we were facing them at home, as the favoured manager I’d be thinking ‘that’s a potential banana skin’.

“They’re a really good footballing side and sometimes they play with five up front which is obscene.

“They’re confident on the ball hence why they sell players for five or six million.”