The Oppostion View – Rotherham

In the wake of yesterday’s superb 4-3 victory at Rotherham, here are some views on the game from the Millers’ manager Ronnie Moore and a few of their fans.


Showing absolutely no grace in defeat, Moore moaned about his team’s defending, attacked the referee’s decision to award Wycombe a penalty, called Kevin Betsy a cheat and rounded things off by declaring Rotherham a “miles better” side than Wycombe.

On Rotherham’s defensive frailties he said: “You can’t defend the way we defended in the first half – it’s as simple as that. That’s where the game really got away from us.”

On the referee’s decision to award Wycombe a penalty, Moore grumbled: “I think he was just trying to even things up to be honest. The linesman has said that he didn’t think so and he’s in a better position than the referee.”

Kevin Betsy scored one goal and played a big part in the other three which led Moore to say: “They’re a good counter attacking side, Betsy just cheats in there, doesn’t track back, doesn’t do anything but picks it up and can hurt you. He’s destroyed us today to be honest. We couldn’t cope with the way he was cheating.”

Having just lost 4-3 at home, the Rotherham boss said: “I think we’re a miles better side than them. But you have to win the games and they’ve got away with the points. We could have opened a gap of eight points on them – now it’s two.”


The Rotherham fans were equally unhappy with their side’s defending and livid at the penalty decision, but were gracious enough to admit that Wycombe played well.

Te following extracts are taken from Vital Rotherham, Millers Mad, BBC 606 and Football Forums.


michaeldc wrote:
‘For all our faults we were the better of the two teams. They caught us on the counter a few times, exploited our weakened defence and we paid the price.’


deano_83 wrote:
‘They walked through us in the first 15 -20 minutes and we hardly got near them to put a tackle in. Conceding four at home, you’re in bother. We needed to defend as a team and we didn’t do that today. Credit to Wycombe for coming and having a go at us.’


XserbarusX wrote:
‘We were unlucky today. The first goal was an individual error from Mullins. The second was a fantastic individual goal from their lad although he should possibly have been closed down quicker. Their third came when we were down to ten men and their fourth was from an illegally awarded penalty. It was not our day.’


oldrawmishmiller wrote:
‘We let in three sloppy goals, missed a sitter and their goalie made two brilliant saves.’


rybel_b wrote:
‘It wasn’t just that we were rubbish – I thought they were good!!’


mos58 wrote:
‘If Nicky Law hadn’t missed that golden chance we would have won the game! We would have gone into the break 3-2 up and they would have gone into their dressing room totally deflated. They were a good side though.’


MarkThomas wrote:
‘Their second and third goals were brilliantly struck and cleverly weighted and placed but I have two gripes over their penalty. Firstly, the decision to point to the spot was either rank incompetence or unforgiveable guesswork. Secondly, the decision not to defer to the linesman’s view that this was a corner was abject cowardice. However, let’s be honest. Although we justifiably feel robbed of a point, our defending was awful. Not only did we fail as a back four and midfield to close down for goals 2 and 3 – there was a 10 min spell at 2-3 when we could easily have gone 2-5 down.’


millers wrote:
‘Great game but probably THE worst penalty decision I’ve ever seen for Wycombe’s winning goal. Kevin Betsy slipped & fell over near Tom Newey & the ref even consulted the lino & still gave it!! If we want to get promoted this season we HAVE to defend better.’


masta_2009 wrote:
‘For what it’s worth I thought it was a penalty. Our defender cleanly made a last ditch tackle and took the ball, BUT, as their attacker regained balance and went for the ball our defender lifted his feet as the ball was moving away and deliberately caught the attacker. Had he not done this their player would have possibly got to the ball. That is why the ref awarded a penalty even though the ball was heading out for a corner.’


minsterman wrote:
‘Their lad was not cheating. He didn’t even appeal for a penalty. He did not dive he fell over Mullins leg. The ref gave the penalty without any Wycombe player asking for one. The linesman? He knew but chose not to say or do anything.’


dalemiller wrote:
‘Ronnie Moore has just stated that they listened into the conversation between the Ref and Lino via the Fourth Officals earpiece…..He said the Lino said he thought it wasn’t a pen but the Ref overruled him saying HE HAD A BETTER VIEW !!!!. How a bloke who`s behind play has a better view from someone in line with the incident beats me!’


Next Game: Wycombe v Lincoln – Oct 30th – 3.00pm