It’s fair to say that Rotherham United aren’t where the vast majority of spectators expected them to be after 32 games in League One at the start of the season with the Millers 15th and closer to a relegation scrap than a play-off push ahead of their trip to the Mem to face Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon.
Just three points separate the two sides with 14 matches remaining, meaning that the Gas will go level on points with their visitors with a victory. However, the South Yorkshire outfit boast a far superior goal difference.
A run of six defeats in their last eight across all competitions, with their sole victory during that time coming against Cambridge United in January, has seen them fall back down the table after it had looked as though Steve Evans’ side were finally turning the screw following an underwhelming start to the campaign.
Like Rovers, Rotherham’s away form has been considerably worse than their record on home turf, offering optimism to Gasheads that Inigo Calderon’s men can make it 13 points from a possible 15 in BS7.
With all that considered, what can we expect from the Millers on Saturday when they make their first trip to the Mem since September 2019? Bristol Live spoke to the Rotherham Advertiser’s Rotherham United writer Paul Davis to get the lowdown…
How would you compare the expectation for the season with how Rotherham have fared so far this campaign?
There’s no doubt that it’s been a really disappointing campaign so far. Steve Evans came back last April and spoke really well about promotion and really raised fans’ optimism after a shocking relegation season but it’s never really got going.
A poor start, 14 new signings, they take time to be put together as a team, and they’ve been hit by injuries to key players. So it was disappointing from opening day up to around Christmas.
Then we got most of our players back and suddenly in January it started looking really, really good. Played some good teams like Charlton and Bolton and did a real job on them, beat them comfortably. They did well enough in January for Steve Evans to be nominated for League One manager of the month.
But then we suffered a bad defeat at Burton Albion and I think that’s knocked confidence and since then we’ve slipped back to the November/ and December standards.
We’re in 15th place now and the play-off push is not going to happen. We’ve got to go on now and make sure we’re not sucked into the relegation scrap.
Would you say that there is pressure on Steve Evans?
I think there’s pressure on him to get wins. I’m not so sure how much pressure there is on his job. He was very much the chairman’s choice to bring him back last year. He had a fantastic record first time here a decade ago. Promotion from League Two and then promotion from League One the season after that. Kept us in the Championship the following season before he left.
So I think Tony Stewart brought him back with that in mind, looking for a promotion push this season. It’s not happened but I think there was more to sort out at the club than Steve realised when he said yes to coming back and he’s in the middle of that process at the moment.
There’s plenty of fan unrest, to be honest. They were expecting bigger and better things this season. Steve was saying he needs more time to get to where he needs to be. He had a meeting with the chairman earlier this week and he said that he’s pledged his full support and outlined how important he is to the club and that he will be given time to get to where he needs to be.
Who are the players to look out for on the weekend?
The player who can change a game on his own is Mallik Wilks. He’s not always on but when he is on he can be pretty much unplayable. He’s a player that thrives in chaos. A ball will bounce to him and there will be all sorts of things whirling around him and suddenly he’s off, beating two or three players and getting a shot on goal. He’s a key man.
I think he’s got about seven goals. He’s essentially a wide man who can play down the middle. If he’s on, Rotherham tend to be on with him and have a chance of winning.
Similarly to Bristol Rovers, Rotherham are considerably better at home than away. Why do you think that might be?
They’ve just not played well enough. The team hasn’t gelled well enough and they haven’t been good enough to win away. The players have been below their potential all season because of 14 summer signings and Rotherham did most of their business early. I think other clubs looked at the calibre of players they signed and thought, ‘wow, they mean business’. It’s just been the case that some of those players have been injured and some haven’t found the form they previously had which made Rotherham sign them.
One or two of them have been very, very good but if you take Rotherham player by player, most of those players were wanted by other clubs so it’s a question of blending them into a team. The injuries haven’t helped but Rotherham should be better than they have been.
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What have you made of Bristol Rovers as an outsider and what sort of game are you expecting?
I’ve kept half an eye on Bristol Rovers all season simply because Jamie Lindsay is down there. He was a good, loyal servant for Rotherham for five years and was popular with the fans and gave his all in every game. At the top of his form, he was a really significant contributor for us and had really good spells in the Championship, let alone in League One. I know it hasn’t worked out particularly well at Rovers for him so far.
I’ve always thought that Rovers have been a very hard team to beat on their own patch. I’ve been covering Rotherham for 11 years, they’ve not played each other every season but I don’t think we’ve ever come away with a point since I’ve been covering them.
Tight, little ground. Really good, passionate home support so it’s always been tough and I expect it to be just as tough this weekend.