Rotherham relegated following loss to Plymouth – Footymercato.com

Rotherham became the first side in the English Football League to be relegated this season after a 1-0 loss at home to fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle.

Rotherham keeper Viktor Johansson kept his side in it with a number of good saves while Plymouth substitute Ben Waine hit the post late on as the Pilgrims ended a six-game winless run.

Argyle – who sacked head coach Ian Foster on Monday after eight losses in 11 games – eased their own relegation fears with the win.

It moves them up to 19th in the Championship, four points from safety, and means the Millers return to League One with an unassailable 19-point gap to 21st-place Birmingham City with only 15 points left to play for.

Interim Argyle boss Neil Dewsnip made four changes to his side, with all four dropping out being January signings by Foster as Dan Scarr and Callum Wright returned having barely featured under the former head coach.

In a first half that was low on quality, Argyle had the better of the chances – Wright twice went close after four Argyle players also threatened during a 10th-minute goalmouth scramble.

Mumba brought the game to life with a lovely touch to control Morgan Whittaker’s precise cross-field pass from the right before blasting past Viktor Johansson to give the Pilgrims a lead they just about deserved.

Argyle’s confidence began to grow after the goal and Wright forced a smart save from Johansson with a low far-post header in first-half stoppage time.

The Millers had to be grateful to their Swedish keeper as time and again he saved them – he tipped Whittaker’s powerful low effort around the post before stopping a Jordan Houghton shot.

Rotherham had their best chances midway through the second half as first Cohen Bramall hit the side netting having found himself unmarked at the back post from a corner before Sebastian Revan saw Michael Cooper produce his only save of the night soon after.

Johansson again came to the rescue moments later after Cameron Humphreys had got a toe on an Adam Randell cross.

He then saved a Dan Scarr header from a corner that saw Waine head against the post from the follow up before the New Zealand striker missed a gilt-edged chance when he capitalised on Sebastian Revan’s poor back-pass, but Johansson was off his line quickly to save with his foot as the Millers were relegated with a whimper.

Four wins and 26 losses in nightmare Millers season

Rotherham have endured a dismal campaign, with just four wins and are guaranteed to finish bottom of the table.

They have failed to win a single match away from home all season and have not won a league match on their travels since November 2022.

Previous boss Matt Taylor was sacked in November when they were four points adrift of safety but replacement Leam Richardson could not turn their fortunes around and has won only two of his 21 league games in charge.

The South Yorkshire side dropped into the bottom three on 23 September and did not climb out of the relegation zone thereafter.

Taylor, who had replaced long-serving Paul Warne in October 2022, kept the club in the second tier last season to end a run of six successive seasons where the club was either promoted to or relegated from the Championship.

This season was always likely to be a struggle for them and Taylor was sacked on 13 November, two days after a 5-0 reverse at Watford.

By the time Richardson was appointed on 11 December they had slipped to the foot of the division, a position they would remain in for the rest of the campaign.

Richardson will now hope he is capable of doing what Warne managed after their three previous relegations and lead them straight back up – having led Wigan Athletic to the League One title in 2022.