After a positive season last time around, in which they preserved their Championship status by finishing 19th with 50 points, Rotherham headed into the new term under the management of Matt Taylor with their focus again set on survival, but they have had to endure a tough start in England’s second tier.
In their seven outings thus far, the Millers have managed just four points, having started with defeats to Stoke City, Leicester City and Sunderland around their only point at that time – a 2-2 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers in which they were pegged back after leading 2-0 through Hakeem Odoffin and Fred Onyedinma.
Aiming to add to their single point, the South Yorkshire outfit would successfully record a first league victory of the campaign prior to the recent international break, beating Norwich City 2-1 on home turf thanks to goals from Dexter Lembikisa and Jordan Hugill,
before returning to action away in an important contest away at Huddersfield Town last weekend and suffering a disappointing 2-0 defeat as Josh Koroma and Sorba Thomas found the net for the hosts.
Taylor’s men then most recently faced a tough trip to Millwall on Wednesday, in their bid to rebound from the weekend defeat and improve their standing at this early stage of the Championship campaign, but they suffered another setback, being thrashed 3-0 at The Den with Ryan Longman opening the scoring in the first half and Zian Flemming and Tom Bradshaw adding goals after the interval.
Following two further defeats in the last week, the Millers now find themselves 21st in the second tier, only leading Swansea City, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough, the only three sides with winless league records this term, and they will be desperate to correct their form and avoid being cut adrift in the coming weeks with a victory on home turf on Saturday.
carried the strong record into the international break with a 2-0 beating of Stoke City, thanks to Will Keane’s brace early in the second half, and Lowe’s men would pick up where they left off on their return to action, handing a 2-1 defeat to the manager’s former side Plymouth Argyle at Deepdale last weekend courtesy of first-half goals from Duane Holmes and Liam Millar.
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Aiming to continue their fine run and make it six second-tier wins on the bounce, the Lancashire outfit most recently hosted Birmingham City on Tuesday, and after going behind to Jay Stansfield’s 46th-minute opener, they quickly drew level through a Krystian Bielik own goal, before Milutin Osmajic netted their decisive goal in a 2-1 win 23 minutes from time.
Now boasting the Championship’s joint-second strongest ever start to a campaign, with 19 points on the board having only slipped in their opening-day draw, Preston will look to keep building momentum with a seventh straight triumph on Saturday to further strengthen their position in the leading pack
