Saturday 22 October 2016 19:19, UK
Rotherham's new era under Kenny Jackett began in a familiar losing fashion as they were beaten 1-0 by Reading.
Jackett was taking charge of the Millers barely 24 hours after replacing Alan Stubbs, who was sacked on Wednesday following a shocking run of form. Despite an improved performance, they slipped to a seventh loss on the bounce to equal a club record for the most consecutive defeats in a single season.
Paul McShane was Reading's hero as he poked home in the 85th minute after it had looked like they were going to squander the three points when Garath McCleary saw his earlier penalty saved by Lee Camp.
In truth, the Royals, who registered a first win in five, were grateful to goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi for keeping them in the game with a number of vital saves.
Jackett will be buoyed by what he saw, but his task of keeping Rotherham in the Championship looks a tough one as they remain six points adrift of safety. Buoyed by the enthusiasm of a fresh start, the Millers started well and fashioned three good chances in the opening 15 minutes.
Joe Newell's curling effort brought a flying save out of Al-Habsi, who then palmed a Jon Taylor effort around the post with Greg Halford's header from the resulting corner blocked.
Al-Habsi made another stunning save to deny the Millers the lead in the second half when he somehow clawed out Richard Wood's powerful header and the keeper again kept out Danny Ward, who should have done better after being put through on goal.
But amid Rotherham's dominant spell Reading had a golden chance to take the lead when whistle-happy referee Scott Duncan awarded a penalty when Dael Fry was adjudged to have tripped Joey Van Den Berg.
Contact appeared minimal, if there was any at all, but it did not matter as McCleary fired his spot-kick straight into Camp's legs. However, it changed the momentum of the game completely and Jaap Stam's side took the ascendency, with Yann Kermogant firing just wide shortly afterwards.
The Royals piled the pressure on and the decisive moment came in the 86th minute as McShane was on hand to poke home at the far post after Camp could only claw a cross-shot away.
Rotherham boss Kenny Jackett:
"I felt the work-rate, effort and commitment of the players was very good. We went toe-to-toe with Reading. We had a good number of chances and were a threat from set-pieces. We couldn't convert them.
"We are disappointed to lose the game, but the players have to keep up that effort, work-rate and attitude, and not get too disappointed."
Reading boss Jaap Stam:
"It is a good way to bounce back. You want to win every game, (but) we knew it was going to be very hard, with their new manager with a different style of play. We didn't know how they were going to be beginning this game. We worked on 4-4-3 as well as 4-4-2.
"In the chances that we created we should have at least scored one. It was a very difficult game, they made it difficult in how they played."
