Meetings beating City and teams from Rotherham date back to December 1887. Back then it was in a friendly that the Imps visited Rotherham Town and hat-tricks from James Slater and William Gregson plus goals from Walter Fox and George Hallam secured an 8-2 away win.
Slater scored twice along with two from Edwin Teesdale as Town lost 4-1 at John O'Gaunts later in the season. Several more friendlies followed as well as four Midland League games (two City wins and two draws) and a 2-0 City win in the FA Cup followed before we met in Town's first ever Football League match at John O'Gaunts in September 1893.
John Irving opened the scoring for us but Town's first ever scorer appears lost forever as the Lincolnshire press described it as "the ball was returned from the opposite wing and Jones (the Lincoln 'keeper) fisted out but the ball rebounded and it was over the goal line when Jones again fisted out." The return again saw us win 8-2 for our best ever away win in the Football League; William Lees (3), John Chadburn (2), Albert Flewitt, Irving and an own goal doing the damage.
Town had two more seasons in the League winning 5-2, losing 2-0 and 5-0 and drawing 2-2 in front of a crowd of around 300, believed to be their lowest, at Clifton Grove in their final home match in the League before failing to be re-elected. The
Rotherham history indicates they only had eight players in that final game although the Lincoln press mentions a brawl on the pitch that "involved all 22 players".
A different Town were runners up to City in the Midland League in 1908/09 (albeit by 13 points!) before we first meet Rotherham County in the FA Cup in 1912/13; goals from Don Slade (2) and Tommy Wield seeing us through 3-1 away in a Fourth Qualifying tie. Two seasons later a Sixth Qualifying Round match saw us win 6-0 at Sincil Bank with Arthur Wolstenholme scoring a hat-trick.
We met County on eight occasions during World War 1, winning two, drawing three and losing three, scoring 10 goals and conceding 13. Andrew Gardner was dismissed for arguing with the referee in the 1-1 home draw in March 1916, one of four dismissals he had as a City player.
They were elected to the Football League for the 1919/20 season and our first meeting saw goals from Fred Coe, Eugene Harrison and Ted Glennon condemn us to a 3-0 defeat with the first Sincil Bank meeting ending goalless, one of only five 0-0 scores between us.
Back in the Midland League in 1920/21 we lost away to both Town and County Reserves but beat both at home and resumed rivalry with County in Division 3 North in 1923/24 with two Archie Roe goals earning us a 2-1 win at Sincil Bank.
Apart from our two seasons in Division Two we met every season from then until the outbreak of the Second World War with us just holding the upper hand with 13 wins to 10 and five draws. Harry Andrews scored all three in our 3-1 win on our first visit to the newly named Rotherham United in April 1926. Other wins included 4-1 at Sincil Bank in November 1927, 4-0 at home in September 1934 and again in March 1936. Our biggest win over them was by 5-0 in October 1937 thanks to goals from Bernard Towler (2), Jack Callender, Richard Deacon and George Whyte.
Defeats included a 3-0 home reverse in April 1925, 5-0 (our worst to date) at Millmoor in February 1935 thanks to goals from Jimmy Reid (2), Tom Fenoughty, Les Heelbeck and Billy Dickinson, and 4-0 there in March 1938. Billy Hick scored 30 goals in 31 games for the Millers in 1930/31 including a hat-trick in their 3-1 win at Sincil Bank.
Our only FA Cup meeting in the period saw Harry Andrews and Harry Pringle score in a 2-0 home success in the First Round in 1926/27.
Wartime football again saw us meet regularly with 22 meetings producing seven City wins, 11 defeats and three draws. We let six in on three occasions as we conceded 53 goals (22 of them scored by Wally Ardron!) and scored 37. In addition they twice beat us 2-1 in the FA Cup in 1945/46 as the competition was played over two legs!
1946/47 saw Rotherham finish runners up in Division Three North with us being one of the 20 teams they beat at home (3-0) whilst the following season saw us neck and neck for the title.
We won 3-1 at Sincil Bank in December with the return at Rotherham in April seeing a Millmoor best crowd for our meetings of 20,177.
Around 5,000 City fans see Willie Windle score after just five minutes (with the referee ignoring a linesman's flag for offside) and Jim McCormick make it two just three minutes later. The victory put us one point ahead of Rotherham and a final match win sealed the title for us.
Rotherham gained revenge of sorts at Sincil Bank in April 1951 as two goals from Gladstone Guest earned them a win and confirmed the title for them.
Our own promotion to Division Two in 1951/52 meant we met for the next nine seasons in that division, however for the most part it was a struggle for us both although Rotherham only missed out on promotion to the First Division in 1954/55 on goal average. We helped their cause by losing 3-0 and 3-2 over the Christmas period; the latter seeing the largest Sincil Bank crowd of 18,897 look on as
Johnny Garvie scores both City goals. Guest scored his eighth and final goal for Rotherham against us with a last minute winner.
The previous season 15,460 had seen a seven-goal thriller at Sincil Bank as after five minutes a linesman collapsed with a sprained ankle and had to be replaced by a spectator. Ian Wilson put the visitors ahead shortly after only for Ernie Whittle to equalise after 20 minutes.
Peter Johnson restored the lead five minutes later and when Guest added his usual goal three minutes into the second half it looked all over but Whittle completed his hat-trick with two goals in a minute before Andy Graver gave us the lead with 15 minutes left. We survived a late scare when United hit the crossbar to take the points.
The 1957/58 season saw us win at Millmoor (2-1) in December and then go another 17 games without victory before the famous "Great Escape" when we won our last six games. Rotherham were our third victims by 2-0. The final five meetings before our relegation in 1960/61 saw us lose all five without even scoring a goal!
A 5-1 Third Round FA Cup defeat in 1964/65 was our only competitive meeting until Rotherham joined us in Division Four in 1973/74. We lost 2-1 away in the League Cup and 2-0 in the League but the meeting at Sincil Bank in January 1974 created history as our first Football League match at Sincil Bank on a Sunday. Dixie McNeil scored inside the first minute volleying in a John Worsdale cross with John Ward heading a Jimmy McGeough corner home to make it 2-0 just before half-time. Ron Wigg pulled one back in the 74th minute but we held firm.
The 1974/75 season saw us involved in our only League Cup tie to go to a second replay with United winning 2-1 after two 1-1 draws. With a League game as well it meant we met four times in just 18 days. United won promotion that season followed by us in 1975/76 and we then met for three seasons in Division Three.
Mick Harford and Dave Gwyther both scored twice at Sincil Bank in a 3-3 draw in 1977/78, Richard Finney getting United's other with Alan Hoult scoring a last kick equaliser for us.
Ex-City favourite Dave Smith scored in our 2-0 away defeat in 1978/79 although we did gain a rare win at Sincil Bank by 3-0 later in the season. Dave Sunley, Glenn Cockerill and John Ward all scoring after Rotherham had Gwyther sent off after 70 minutes.
Future Imp Kevin Kilmore scored both United's goals in our next meetings in 1983/84 in the 1-1 away draw and 1-0 home defeat, watched by just 2,140 - at the time the lowest Sincil Bank crowd since official attendances were published. Just 17 more were at the game the following season to see a 3-3 draw.
Our first away match of our relegation season of 1985/86 saw a Kevan Smith goal condemn us to defeat whilst the last 0-0 draw to date was at Sincil Bank in December 1985.
Clive Evans was sent off on our next visit in November 1988 when only an inspired display by Mark Wallington in goal kept the score down to 2-0 but we ended up with even fewer players in December 1991 as both Gary West and Jason Lee were sent off. West had earlier scored for us but all Rotherham could reply with was a goal by ex-Imp Tony Cunningham. Cunningham had also been on target earlier in the season as we lost our first home game 2-0 as Rotherham won promotion
He scored again at Sincil Bank in 1992/93 as we lost 1-0 in the Autoglass Trophy whilst we also suffered a 3-1 away defeat in the Auto Windscreen Shield in 1995/96 before our next Football League meetings in 1997/98.
An 88th minute Paul Miller consolation was all we had to show at Millmoor in September 1997 as Gareth Ainsworth played his final match for us. Goals by Andy Roscoe, Lee Glover and Jason White in a 12-minute spell in the second half had killed us off. White scored the only goal at Sincil Bank later in the season.
Our 1999/2000 season off to a good start with a 2-1 home win over Rotherham thanks to a 61st minute Terry Fleming penalty and a Lee Philpott strike two minutes later, Paul Warne scoring a last minute consolation, whilst we drew 1-1 away, Paul Smith scoring after 82 minutes to cancel out Darren Garner's opener on the stroke of half-time.
The League meetings in 2007/08 saw the Millers record a 'double' over the Imps with United's Derek Holmes bagging a hat-trick in his side's 3-1 win at Sincil Bank whilst City's Mark Stallard was sent off in our last visit to Millmoor, which ended in a 3-2 dereat.
In August 2008, Rotherham entertained City in the first ever Football League game at the Don Valley Stadium, with a Reuben Reid goal enough to secure the points for a United team who started the campaign with a 17-point deduction after being unable to satisfy the normal conditions of Football League rules for exiting administration whilst the return fixture at Sincil Bank also finished 1-0 to the Millers with a Micky Cummins effort separating the two sides.
Last season, the Millers continued their winning run with an Adam Le Fondre double securing a 2-0 success for his side at the Don Valley. Le Fondre, who had the chance to complete his hat-trick In the final minute only to blaze a penalty well wide of the target, made amends later in the season at Sincil Bank when he won, and converted, an early spot-kick which also saw Moses Swaibu sent off by referee Jarnail Singh. Gary Roberts made it 2-0 midway through the second half with Steven Lennon's 77th minute goal nothing more than a consolation.
Rotherham extended their winning run over the Imps to eight matches earlier this season with a 2-1 opening day League success being followed just over three weeks later by a single-goal victory in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Whilst Le Fondre was on target again in both matches, the former game saw five City players make their debut and the latter was Nathan Adams' final appearance for City. The double defeat, meanwhile, extended the Imps' winless run against the Millers in South Yorkshire to 25 games.
Adapted from an original article by Gary Parle
