Rotherham United 0-1 Plymouth Argyle: Millers relegated to League One as Pilgrims get uncommon win

Rotherham turned the primary aspect within the English Soccer League to be relegated this season after a 1-0 loss at residence to fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle.

Rotherham keeper Viktor Johansson stored his aspect in it with quite a lot of good saves whereas Plymouth substitute Ben Waine hit the submit late on because the Pilgrims ended a six-game winless run.

Argyle – who sacked head coach Ian Foster on Monday after eight losses in 11 video games – eased their very own relegation fears with the win.

It strikes them as much as nineteenth within the Championship, 4 factors from security, and means the Millers return to League One with an unassailable 19-point hole to Twenty first-place Birmingham Metropolis with solely 15 factors left to play for.

Interim Argyle boss Neil Dewsnip made 4 adjustments to his aspect, with all 4 dropping out being January signings by Foster as Dan Scarr and Callum Wright returned having barely featured underneath the previous head coach.

In a primary half that was low on high quality, Argyle had the higher of the possibilities – Wright twice went shut after 4 Argyle gamers additionally threatened throughout a Tenth-minute goalmouth scramble.

Mumba introduced the sport to life with a stunning contact to manage Morgan Whittaker’s exact cross-field go from the proper earlier than blasting previous Viktor Johansson to offer the Pilgrims a lead they simply about deserved.

Argyle’s confidence started to develop after the objective and Wright pressured a sensible save from Johansson with a low far-post header in first-half stoppage time.

The Millers needed to be grateful to their Swedish keeper as repeatedly he saved them – he tipped Whittaker’s highly effective low effort across the submit earlier than stopping a Jordan Houghton shot.

Rotherham had their finest possibilities halfway by means of the second half as first Cohen Bramall hit the aspect netting having discovered himself unmarked on the again submit from a nook earlier than Sebastian Revan noticed Michael Cooper produce his solely save of the evening quickly after.

Johansson once more got here to the rescue moments later after Cameron Humphreys had received a toe on an Adam Randell cross.

He then saved a Dan Scarr header from a nook that noticed Waine head in opposition to the submit from the comply with up earlier than the New Zealand striker missed a gilt-edged probability when he capitalised on Sebastian Revan’s poor back-pass, however Johansson was off his line shortly to avoid wasting together with his foot because the Millers had been relegated with a whimper.

4 wins and 26 losses in nightmare Millers season

Rotherham have endured a dismal marketing campaign, with simply 4 wins and are assured to complete backside of the desk.

They’ve did not win a single match away from residence all season and haven’t received a league match on their travels since November 2022.

Earlier boss Matt Taylor was sacked in November once they had been 4 factors adrift of security however substitute Leam Richardson couldn’t flip their fortunes round and has received solely two of his 21 league video games in cost.

The South Yorkshire aspect dropped into the underside three on 23 September and didn’t climb out of the relegation zone thereafter.

Taylor, who had changed long-serving Paul Warne in October 2022, stored the membership within the second tier final season to finish a run of six successive seasons the place the membership was both promoted to or relegated from the Championship.

This season was all the time prone to be a battle for them and Taylor was sacked on 13 November, two days after a 5-0 reverse at Watford.

By the point Richardson was appointed on 11 December that they had slipped to the foot of the division, a place they’d stay in for the remainder of the marketing campaign.

Richardson will now hope he’s able to doing what Warne managed after their three earlier relegations and lead them straight again up – having led Wigan Athletic to the League One title in 2022.

Rotherham United head coach Leam Richardson advised BBC Radio Sheffield:

“We weren’t good enough tonight, I thought the game was very stop start.

“They shaded it in each bins, which is essentially the most disappointing factor, and I made my views clear at half-time.

“This club’s experienced it a few times, they’ve always come back stronger, I feel for the fans at the minute because they’ve had a really rough season.

“Myself and [assistant] Rob Kelly got here in on the again finish of the yr and it was there for all to see – we have run across the nation with 64% availability of the squad within the Championship and we have not likely been in a position to get to work lots with amenities, however that is by the by, it is one thing we have to enhance on and wish to handle.

“But on the basis of right here, right now, with the emotion of results and the inevitable relegation, it’s a tough one to take.”