A welcome clean sheet which broke a run of 28 league and cup games for us without one along with three very well taken goals left us victorious in last night’s game between the first League Cup Finalists in this 150th anniversary year of the Football Association.

So there was to be no happy ending for The Miller’s last night and no sting in the tale of last night for us. Although they gave a good account of themselves and battled well throughout they were unable through toil alone to get the better of us and it is Aston Villa who will go through to the next round to face another team we have previously met in a League Cup Final. Is there a trend developing in these draws and should we defeat Spurs could it be Leeds, Manchester United, Norwich, Everton or even Small Heath we could be matched up against in Round 4?

Rotherham supporters arrived at Villa Park in numbers last night and their team did everything they were able to send them home to South Yorkshire happy. But unlike Bradford last season this trip to Villa Park was to prove their cup final as a confident and in form Villa team swept them aside as we had hoped would have happened in that two legged semi-final last January. But we are made of sterner stuff this season and our football at times last night was very pleasing to the eye and played at a level that our visitors were unable to match.

Having accomplished our mission in the first hour the substitutions we then made insured that Delph did not pick up another booking and gave other players a first team run out but they also disrupted the flow of our game for a time which in turn saved Rotherham from what may have been a wider margin of defeat. This is clearly a cup competition that Lambo has shown by his team selection last night that he has his sights on and one that could add some silverware to our trophy cabinet after too long a gap without the club doing so. Beating whatever team Spurs choose to put out with goals from one of their summer targets that they chose not to pay the money for would be very, very sweet.

My player ratings from a game that has left us 4 cup ties from a Wembley appearance and that produced a 3 – 0 home win as was also the case back in 1961 are:

Jed Steer – 6 – A clean sheet and an untroubled quiet debut.

Leandro Bacuna – 6 – Looked much more comfortable in the full back spot than he did in our midfield where he had started on Saturday evening. A much improved performance.

Ron Vlaar – 6 – Solid enough on those infrequent occasions that he was tested.

Jores Okore – 7 – Looking better with each game he plays and Jores was so steady at the back last night.

Joe Bennett - 6 – A decent performance on his return to first team action.

Karim El Ahmadi – 6 – Our midfield currently looks more effective with him in it than when he is out of it.

Fabian Delph – 7 – Finished off a splendidly worked move to give us a three goal cushion on 53 minutes. The ball was pinged from one Villa player to another in the midfield until Delph played a one-two with Benteke whose nicely chipped ball found Fabian running between two defenders into the centre of the area, he then took a touch to his right and drilled his shot past the keeper. We look forward to more goals from him but to less yellow cards such as the new one for his collection that he picked up for a rash and unnecessary challenge near the half way line on 34 minutes that may well have contributed towards his substitution on the hour. These regular cards if not addressed will see him sitting out chunks of this season in the stands under suspension which given his present importance to the team we can ill afford.

Ashley Westwood – 7 – Sprayed the ball around very nicely last night.

Gabriel Agbonlahor- 6 – Hit a perfectly weighted cross for Benteke which presented him with our second goal last night. Flashed a shot wide of the post from around 30 yards 4 minutes later and made a good run from inside his own half a couple of minutes after that finding Westwood inside the box who tried to place a shot which was blocked by a defender.

Andreas Weimann – 7 – Worked tirelessly last night and hit our crucial opener on 19 minutes. Having picked up a misplaced Arnason pass just inside his own half he then had a ball he was looking to play into the box blocked by the same defender but he then made no mistake when the ball fell back into his path and he hit a super shot over Shearer and into the corner of the net. Andi just failed to bring the ball under control on 88 minutes which would have left him with just the keeper to beat.

Christian Benteke – 7 – MOTM - It seemed almost unfair on the Rotherham defence to play him last night as he was always going to be more than a handful for defenders who ply their trade in League One. He met Gabby’s fine cross on 40 minutes to give us our second rising to power his header into the net and past Shearer in much the same way as Andy Lochhead so regularly did at the same ground. Scored one and made one job done in the 67 minutes he played!

Substitutes:

Yacouba Sylla – 6 - Replaced Delph on 60 minutes and looked comfortable enough in his role.

Nicklas Helenius– 6 - Replaced Benteke on 67 minutes and hit a shot wide on 89 minutes from what had looked like an offside position. A goal would do a lot for him.

Aleksandar Tonev - 6 - Replaced Gabby on 67 minutes. Looked bright and a player that would benefit from a couple of starts.

Up for the cup Villa!

John Lewis

Source: Player Match Ratings: Villa grind down The Miller’s!