Tim Mercer’s Preston North End Fans’ Panel verdict: Home victory essential to quell grumblings over the manager’s future

At times in the first half it was so poor that my exasperated son could be forgiven for his involuntary shout of “Sunday League” as yet another aimless long ball was punted forward with no sense of any purpose.

Apart from a decent free-kick by Alan Browne that went narrowly over,

I can only recall one other good move in the form of an elegant defence-splitting pass by Emil Riis that put Daniel Johnson in on goal.

Unfortunately his shot was too near the keeper. At the other end, a good save by Declan Rudd from a direct free-kick kept the score at 0-0 in a half we were all glad to see the back of.

After the half-time cuppa, the scrappy game continued until the hosts got their noses in front inside the first 10 minutes.

Poor defending from a free-kick across the box allowed a too-easily headed knock-down to a delighted Rotherham player who duly stabbed the ball home.

Alex Neil made a double substitution shortly after, bringing on Jayden Stockley and Tom Barkhuizen for Riis and Scott Sinclair in a move that improved the visitors’ overall play.

When the guile of Paul Gallagher was added in as a final throw of the dice it appeared to have done the trick as a Gally corner was cleared as far as Ryan Ledson.

He managed to avoid colliding with the referee to score his first goal in a PNE shirt with a beauty of shot from outside the area.

Suddenly we looked set to take all three points until a bad mistake by Brad Potts deep in the United half allowed the Millers to break forward late in the game to score the winner.

Without a single point at home, I feel the next game may well be a crucial one when we return to Deepdale in two weeks’ time following the international break.

Another defeat would mean an unwanted new record in the league of six home defeats in a row and would surely reopen grumblings in some quarters over the future of the manager.