Paul Warne proud of Rotherham United - Sheffield Wednesday do the Millers a favour

But Rotherham fans found themselves wanting Sheffield Wednesday to win on Saturday night.

It was a severe test of their moral compass, but that is what this League One promotion race has come to - a battle full of twists and turns that looks set to go to the wire.

Rotherham did their job on Saturday lunchtime, ending a damaging three-game losing streak by beating Ipswich in a tense and nervy affair in South Yorkshire.

That moved them back into the top two ahead of the Owls’ trip to MK Dons later that night.

The Dons are the side that have capitalised on Rotherham’s wobble, but it turns out that pressure does not just affect the Millers.

It is fair to say there were far more Rotherham Owls than usual as they watched Wednesday beat their hosts 3-2 to keep the Millers in the top two on goal difference, crucially with a game in hand.

The Millers’ automatic promotion bid really has been resurrected this Easter.

Never was a result more important than it was against Ipswich, any win would do, but crucially there was a performance to match it.

A number of key players, whose dip in form coincided with the poor results, returned to their best, with Michael Smith, Ollie Rathbone and Michael Ihiekwe all delivering big performances.

It was Smith’s 77th-minute strike, a cool finish into the bottom corner after Wes Harding’s long throw made its way to the back post, that was the decisive moment.

“We were excellent, I thought. It was a good day in the sun,” Warne said. “The fans were brilliant, which makes a massive difference to the players, so I thank them for that… It was the result we needed and also the performance we needed. The lads will get a massive boost from that.

“We can't control what your rivals do, but you give yourself a right chance when you perform at that level.

“Some of our key players have just had a dip in form, two or three possibly. For us to win any game all our players have to be at their best. They just haven't been recently, I can leave exhausted but really proud of what they did.”