12 1GG Monday May 2 2022 | the times
thegame
Performance of the week
Nottingham Forest. Steve
Cooper’s side maintained their
challenge for an automatic
promotion place with a 5-1
victory at home to Swansea
City. It sets up tomorrow’s
trip to face second-placed
Bournemouth, who are three
points clear of Forest but with
an inferior goal difference.Player of the week
Sam Surridge, the £2 million
signing from Stoke City, scored
a hat-trick against Swansea,
the first of his career. He has
come good at the right time
for Forest, with five goals in
his past four games.Goal of the week
After cutting inside from
the left, the Huddersfield Town
wing back Harry Toffolo curled
in a long-range shot to set hisside on course for a 2-1 win
away to Coventry City.Rising star
Derby County’s 18-year-old
forward Malcolm Ebiowei
showed why he has been
linked with Premier League
sides by scoring his first senior
goal and then providing the
assist for Eiran Cashin in the
2-0 win away to Blackpool.Quote of the week
“I’ve been in football for a long
time and there are only limited
teams that get to a point
where they have opportunities
to be successful. We need to
embrace that, play with a
freedom. We did that very
well.” Scott Parker, the
Bournemouth head coach,
after his side held on to
second with a 3-0 win away
to Blackburn Rovers.CHAMPIONSHIPPerformance of the week
Wigan Athletic. A comfortable
3-0 win away to Shrewsbury
Town confirmed automatic
promotion and the League
One title for Leam
Richardson’s side.Player of the week
The Milton Keynes Dons
forward Scott Twine equalled
a club record by scoring four
goals in a game, in the 5-0 win
away to Plymouth Argyle,
taking his season’s tally to 20.Goal of the week
Even Dion Charles admitted
that his slide tackle-cum-goal
attempt from near the halfway
line benefited from more
than a slice of luck, but it
was still spectacular and
helped his Bolton Wanderers
side to a 4-2 victory over
Fleetwood Town.Rising star
The on-loan Huddersfield
Town defender Rarmani
Edmonds-Green, 23, scored
his second goal in three
games to set Rotherham
United on course for the
2-0 win away to Gillingham
that secured automatic
promotion and condemned
their opponents to relegation.
Rotherham’s upgrade means
they have been promoted
into, or relegated from, the
second tier in each of the
past six seasons.Quote of the week
“We can’t feel sorry for
ourselves and carry a
hangover into the play-offs.
We are ready to deliver.”
Liam Manning, the MK Dons
manager, after his side missed
out on automatic promotion
by one point.LEAGUE ONEPerformance of the week
Bristol Rovers. Joey Barton’s
side moved level on points
with Northampton Town, who
are third, after twice clawing
back a two-goal deficit away
to Rochdale to win 4-3.Player of the week
Aaron Collins, the Bristol
Rovers forward, diverted Elliot
Anderson’s header over the
line to complete his side’s
comeback in the fifth minute
of stoppage time, and to seal
his first senior hat-trick.Goal of the week
The attacking midfielder
Mitch Pinnock moved past
one defender before sending
a low drive into the bottom
corner from 20 yards, giving
Northampton Town the lead
in their 1-1 draw at home to
Exeter City.Rising star
Jack Diamond, the 22-year-old
winger on Ioan at Harrogate
Town from Sunderland, won a
penalty and then scored his
side’s second goal in a 3-1 win
away to Forest Green Rovers,
which dislodged the hosts
from the top of the table for
the first time since September.Quote of the week
“I was dying for us to stay up,
it hasn’t happened. I’m here
next year — I’m going to try to
get us back up as quickly as
I can. It’s not even worth me
going on about the game. I’m
going to try my hardest to get
a team together that’s going to
try to get us straight back up.”
John Sheridan, after losing 2-0
away to Tranmere Rovers,
commits to Oldham Athletic,
despite their relegation to the
National League.LEAGUE TWOsupport for Scally and said the fans
should be realistic about outside
investment.
“We can’t just slope from one week
to the next as we have as a club, the
standards next season will be miles
better,” Harris, 44, said.
“I’ll have players [with] more
professionalism, I’ll have leadership in
the changing room, I’ll have more
quality — I want to have a right good
go in League Two.”
While Harris aims to bounce
straight back to the third tier with
Gillingham, Warne will assess how
Rotherham can avoid going straight
back down again.
“We have to do better than what
we’ve done in previous summers,”
Warne said. “We have to recruit
better, we have to try to keep our best
assets, and we have to give ourselves a
real good chance.”charge. On Saturday, some
Gillingham fans responded to
Rotherham’s chants of “We are going
up,” with, “We want Scally out”.
That Gillingham could have
achieved survival on the final day of
the season is proof of Harris’s impact,
but it came too late.
They were hampered by a transfer
embargo which meant they could
only sign free agents and loanees,
while they lacked firepower in attack
— they scored only 13 goals at home
this season and were relegated on
goal difference.
The one positive for Gillingham is
that Harris is staying at the club next
season. The manager spoke frankly
about declining standards at the club
and how he could have saved them
had he been appointed 24 hours
earlier, with a day left of the January
transfer window. He expressedalternate between divisions] — we
have Norwich as an example at the
higher end of that — but it’s never
boring,” Matt Flax, host of the
Rotherham podcast New York Talk,
said before the game.
By contrast, Gillingham have
stagnated this season. Their previous
manager, Steve Evans, left in January
after 13 matches without a victory.
His replacement, the former Millwall
and Cardiff City manager Neil Harris,
was appointed with the team second
from bottom and ten points from
safety.
Many Gillingham fans blame the
long-time chairman, Paul Scally, for
that stagnation. Scally saved the club
from administration in 1995 and
oversaw their first promotion to the
Championship, but he has also fallen
out with members of the fanbase and
the local press during his time inAs soon as the final whistle blew on
Rotherham United’s 2-0 win against
Gillingham, fans of both teams
swarmed onto the pitch. The
emotions were contrasting. On one
side, Rotherham’s jubilant supporters
celebrated their promotion to the Sky
Bet Championship. On the other,
Gillingham fans vented their anger at
their side’s relegation to League Two.
There were clashes between the
two groups and objects were thrown.
Then Rotherham supporters
dispersed to one corner of Priestfield
Stadium to start the party with their
players, while home fans acted out
scoring goals at the other end of the
pitch, complete with ironic
celebrations.
Gillingham failed to score when it
mattered. They fell behind to a 34th-
minute goal from Rarmani Edmonds-
Green, Rotherham’s Huddersfield
Town loanee, and for much of the
second half they only needed an
equaliser to stay up, with their
relegation rivals Fleetwood Town
losing to Bolton Wanderers. But
Georgie Kelly’s 89th-minute finish on
his Rotherham debut ensured that
Gillingham dropped out of the third
tier for the first time since 2013.
For Rotherham, it sealed a third
promotion to the Championship in six
years. Since Paul Warne first took
charge in 2016, each of the manager’s
six seasons at Rotherham have ended
in promotion or relegation. Warne
has embraced that rollercoaster ride.
“It would be nice just to stay in a
league for a bit, but virtually every
game I’ve had since I’ve been here
there’s been something on it,” Warne,
48, said. “There’s never a game at the
end [that’s] a dead rubber. There’s
always something to play for.”
That was certainly the case on
Saturday. Rotherham were seven
points clear at the top of the table in
March but were pegged back by
Wigan Athletic and MK Dons. They
won the Papa Johns Trophy at
Wembley a month ago, but since then
they had won only twice in six games
before the promotion-clinching
victory against Gillingham. It was
partly that stuttering run that meant
Wigan Athletic were crowned League
One champions rather than
Rotherham on Saturday. But Warne
has built a side capable of cutting
through teams thanks to the direct
running of the Ireland forward,
Chiedozie Ogbene, and the tenacious
midfielder Ben Wiles. Against
Gillingham, their three-man defence
also showed why they have conceded
the fewest goals in the division this
season (33).
Rotherham’s yo-yo status does not
appear to bother their fans. The
2,200-strong group at the Priestfield
set off red flares and celebrated wildly
after each goal — including one
scored by their captain, Richard
Wood, which was ruled offside before
Kelly sealed the win.
“We’re not the only club [toRotherham rollercoaster rises again
Rotherham fans celebrate a return to the Championship at Priestfield Stadium where the home contingent railed against Scally, their longstanding chairmanCOLORSPORT/DANIEL BEARHAMFighting among rival fans
as yo-yo club go back up
and send Gillingham into
League Two. By Tomás
Hill López-Menchero