Rotherham United vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship.
New York StadiumAttendance11,001.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Rotherham United and Birmingham City at the New York Stadium on Saturday | Steve Evans made his return as Millers manager as they held their fellow strugglers to a stalemate
Saturday 20 April 2024 18:57, UK
Birmingham edged another point clear of the Championship relegation zone after being held 0-0 by already relegated Rotherham in a game which was held up by a medical emergency in the stands.
The Blues were left frustrated by Rotherham, who had Steve Evans back in the dugout after his shock return from Stevenage midweek, and the stalemate left the visitors just two points clear of the bottom three with two games to play.
Birmingham had a chance within the first two minutes when Keshi Anderson burst down the left flank and found Tyler Roberts at the backpost but his volley was off target.
The match was stopped after nine minutes due to a medical emergency in the home stand, with paramedics rushed over to give treatment to a supporter.
Referee Keith Stroud took the players off the field for more than 20 minutes and after the supporter was taken to hospital, the game resumed around 3.45pm.
Anderson was again causing problems after the restart and he got a shot away which Viktor Johansson had to kick away for a corner.
Rotherham's Jordan Hugill then headed tamely at John Ruddy after Sebastian Revan had picked him out with a left-wing cross.
The Millers were hit by two first-half injuries, with Cafu and Peter Kioso both having to be replaced.
A strike from Oliver Rathbone from the edge of the box looked to be goal-bound but Krystian Bielik bravely put his head in the way.
Birmingham brought Koji Miyoshi on to liven up their attack at the break and he almost made an instant impact when he cut inside and saw his shot diverted wide.
A long ball to Jay Stansfield almost led to an opportunity but his touch was too heavy and it ran through into Johansson's grasp.
Stansfield thought he had given Birmingham the lead when he lashed in from Paik Seung-ho's free-kick but it was ruled out for offside by the assistant referee.
Arvin Appiah had a good opportunity to strike at the other end after he burst forward but his low shot was clung on to by Ruddy.
Scott Hogan was brought on for the closing stages by interim boss Gary Rowett and he almost got on the end of Lee Buchanan's near-post cross.
Rotherham threatened to nick the points when the ball fell to Sam Nombe in the box but the record signing hooked over the chance.
Miyoshi should really have grabbed the winner when he was found by Bielik on goal but his weak effort was kept out by Johansson.
Birmingham survived a scare in added on time as Revan's volley was beaten away by Ruddy.
Rotherham's Steve Evans:
"It was everything you would have wanted. It was exciting. It was a fantastic welcome. How I got received will go down as another wonderful memory at this place.
"That is how we play. We played against a team fighting for their lives and against top players.
"The boys have gone through the pain barrier. All we can do is freshen them up and get them ready for Bristol City and Cardiff.
"The break in play changed the momentum of the game because they were under the cosh. It was like starting afresh. It gave the Birmingham lads an opportunity to reset.
"We asked the boys to work incredibly hard. From a neutral point of view a draw was probably a fair result."
Birmingham's Gary Rowett:
"It was an attritional game. The way that Rotherham are going to be set up, you know they're going to be very direct and play for second balls and make it difficult to get out.
"I thought it was difficult to find any rhythm. It was a tough game.
"The first half was a non-event. Second half was a little bit better, we just needed those moments of quality to open the game up. Sometimes we did that without finding an end to it and sometimes we lacked composure."
