Seeking promotion can be like waiting for a bus… you search for almost a decade and then two come along at once! This was the case for Rotherham United, deprived of Championship football for nine years but fighting to climb the pyramid in back-to-back seasons, which makes Saturday 25 May 2014 a historic day in their 98-year history.
The South Yorkshire outfit tallied 86 points during the Sky Bet League One campaign, a total matched by Leyton Orient, with the latter netting a superior goal difference to claim the upper hand between the respective third and fourth-placed teams who would meet in the Play-Off Final. To contextualise the contest, their in-season head-to-head record was equally narrow, with the Millers having lost 0-1 away at Brisbane Road but boasting a 2-1 win on their own patch. The two third-tier competitors would meet again at Wembley but not before a round of strenuous semi-final bouts.
Rotherham required victory over Preston North End to earn their place in the showpiece and had a job to do following an away 1-1 first-leg at Deepdale, a game which saw Alex Revell dribble the ball from the halfway line before finding the target. In the return leg at the New York Stadium, Rotherham conceded an early free kick to fall behind in the tie but found themselves ahead before the break thanks to headed goals from Wes Thomas and Lee Frecklington. Kieran Agard’s second-half finish extended the lead beyond the Lilywhites reach to see Steve Evan’s side progress 4-2 on aggregate and into into only their second-ever play-off final.
Orient also had to come from behind on their route to Wembley. Conceding early away to Peterborough United in the first leg was never the plan, but Moses Odubajo provided them a lifeline with his equaliser 18 minutes from time. Fans would have to wait until the second half of the second-leg to see Dean Cox volley the East London side ahead, before Chris Dagnall sealed their progression with two minutes left of the 90, despite the Posh netting a consolation in stoppage time.
The match under the arch was certainly a spectacle. A crowd of over 43,000 hopeful supporters took to their seats and it was those from the North who watched their side push to break the deadlock first. Opting to pump high balls into the opposition’s area, a Revell penalty claim was waved away by referee David Coote after just 60 seconds of play.
The official was keen to take names in the feisty affair, booking Rotherham’s’ Scott Cuthbert for bringing down Ben Pringle and awarding Russel Slade’s side a free kick in a promising area. Cox’s curler was cleared but only into the path of Odubajo, whose goalbound strike cleared a swarm of red and grey shirts to sting the roof of the net. The player bizarrely celebrated with his shirt brandished above his head although there was an hour left to play and his teammates' efforts to disguise the act were in vain, the yellow card unprevented. He was, though, not swayed by the punishment, reaching the byline five minutes later to square a neat pass for Cox to tap home at the far post, sending the team from the Capital into half-time two to the good.
The man who ignited Rotherham’s play-off process would create the spark to create a second 45 comeback. Revell, a former Orient player, took advantage of goalkeeper Jamie Jones’ dropped ball, poking home into an empty net on 54 minutes. Then, before the hour mark, the striker doubled his tally, this time with a sensational strike from 35 yards that looped the ball over the back-pedalling goalkeeper to bring the sides level at 2-2. The Yorkshire half of Wembley bouncing - manager Evans, suited and booted, ran down the touchline in celebration. The score remained even throughout intense exchanges that swallowed up extra-time before a mutually-dreaded showdown from 12 yards.
Momentum swayed in favour of the Londoners, Frecklington the first to miss a spot-kick. With Rotherham trailing in the shootout, fate turned to their no.1 Adam Collin. The ‘keeper loomed large to protect his net, twice producing promotion-winning saves to deny Mathieu Baudry and Chris Dagnall, sending Rotherham into the Sky Bet Championship little more than a year on from playing on the Football League's bottom division.
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