Rotherham United’s road to nowhere (From York Press)

Rotherham United’s road to nowhere

11:00am Friday 5th October 2012 in Sport By Dave Flett, Sports reporter

ROTHERHAM United will arrive at York City tomorrow still searching for their first away win of the season.

The Millers currently lie 11th just three points adrift of the play-off places and with a game in hand on most of their rivals but have struggled outside of South Yorkshire for a long time now.

Only Barnet, Dagenham and Chesterfield can match an unenviable record of no League Two victories during their travels this term and, furthermore, Rotherham have only managed two away wins during the whole of 2012.

This season, Steve Evans’ men have drawn at Barnet (0-0), Chesterfield (1-1) and Hull (1-1) in the Capital One Cup before getting knocked out on penalties and have also lost to host teams Port Vale (6-2) and Northampton (2-1).

In total, the New York Stadium outfit have failed to win any of their last seven away fixtures, dating back to a 2-1 triumph at AFC Wimbledon in April.

Despite their struggles on the road, Rotherham will be cheered on by a sold-out away end at Bootham Crescent.

Visiting fans will also be eager to see their team in action after the Millers were denied a chance to improve on their away form when Tuesday night’s match at Accrington Stanley was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch half an hour before kick off.

That fixture was due to be the fifth of a six-game stadium ban that controversial boss Evans has incurred for using abusive and insulting words and behaviour during an incident at his previous club Crawley.

The suspension applies to grounds that Rotherham are playing at on match days, meaning the fiery Scotsman was free to spy on tomorrow’s opponents during Tuesday night’s 2-0 home defeat to Fleetwood.

Assistant-manager Paul Raynor will, nevertheless, be in charge of proceedings at Bootham Crescent, having overseen two wins, a draw and a defeat during his temporary tenure.

Like Evans, striker Alex Revell will be missing against the Minstermen through suspension, having been sent off at Barnet a fortnight ago.

But former Manchester United forward Daniel Nardiello is set to be left out of the starting line-up for a fifth successive match after falling out of favour.

Left-back Laurie Wilson is also unlikely to feature despite returning to training following a knee injury, with on-loan Blackpool defender Robert Harris expected to retain his place in the team, having made his Millers debut in Saturday’s 3-1 home victory over Oxford.

Irish midfielder Michael O’Connor bagged a brace in that match to make him the club’s top scorer on four goals.

Ex-City ’keeper Andy Warrington, meanwhile, will be on the bench tomorrow, with last month’s 1-0 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat against Gary Mills’ men still representing his only senior outing of the season.

Rotherham: (probable) Shearer, Hunt, Sharps, Morgan, Harris, Pringle, Arnason, O’Connor, Ainsworth, Odejayi, Evans.