With Grimsby Town playing Rotherham United, the Internet Mariners also headed to Rotherham to play their IFA counterparts, the Internet Millers. The Rotherham outfit are flying high in the IFA table (3rd) at the moment having won 6 of their 7 outings so far this season, so the Mariners knew they were in for a tough match. In addition to this, they travelled with only 11 players due to injury and other commitments.

Despite arriving early and having suitably warmed up, the Mariners were slow out of the blocks again for the fourth match running and were on the back foot immediately with the Rotherham front line pressing for the early goal. Unfortunately for the Mariners, this came within 15 minutes from a Rotherham set piece. A free kick from the Rotherham left was floated into the Mariners penalty area, where a “flick on” left the Mariners defence floundering and the ball ended up in the back of the Mariners net. 1-0 to the Internet Millers. The rest of the first half was mainly played out with Rotherham on the front foot and only some very sound goalkeeping from Grant Johnson and last-ditch clearances from the Mariners kept the score line at 1-0. The Mariners only created a couple of chances for the Mariners themselves in the first half, a free kick from Adam Hayworth which was always going to be difficult to convert with the Rotherham wall barely 5 yards from the ball and very well delivered corner which the Rotherham ‘keeper managed to punch from away from the head of the incoming Mariners player. Still, the Mariners had weathered the storm and were happy to try and re-group at half time with the score only 1-0.

The Mariners started the second half in much brighter fashion and had a 20-minute spell where they threw everything at Rotherham and played some neat football, without ever having the killer punch to claim the goal their play deserved. With this being a tight game at this stage, the next goal was going to prove crucial for the Mariners’ hopes of claiming anything from the game and unfortunately for the Mariners it was Rotherham who scored that goal, albeit in very fortunate circumstances. The ball was floated in from the Rotherham right to the back post where their striker got his head to the ball, directing back across the goal. A Mariners defender got his leg to the ball, deflecting it onto the post only for the ball to travel all the way along the goal line before hitting the other post and ending up in the back of the net. This was harsh on the Mariners, as they had played much better football in the second half and probably merited a goal for their efforts. There were two notable goalmouth chances in the second half for the Mariners. The first from Craig Nuttall after a good run into Rotherham box, however an awful bounce just as he was about to hit the ball meant a wayward shot. The second was a goalmouth scramble close to the end from a corner, when striker Darren Hiscock couldn’t quite find the final touch after some good work at the near post by Mariners captain Darren Todd.

All in all, not a good day for the Mariners who felt that one or two “decisions” went against them, in particular, a very blatant hand ball by a Rotherham defender when Mariners striker Darren Hiscock would have been clean through on goal. However, Rotherham have proved themselves to be a good team, which their results this year have shown and they certainly benefited from having a number of substitutes in order to freshen their side up when they needed to. We look forward to welcoming them to an equally “sunny” Grimsby later in the season.