ROTHERHAM UNITED - 1

ACCRINGTON STANLEY - 0

Accrington Stanley stayed in 19th place in League One after being on the end of a 1-0 defeat against Rotherham United at the New York Stadium.

Carlton Morris' first half header was the only goal of a hard-fought game where eight yellows and one red were shown.

Stanley, who sit two points above the drop zone, welcome Bolton Wanderers to the Wham Stadium next week.

John Coleman's side dealt with what the home side had to throw at them in the opening 20 minutes very well as they tried to create chances for themselves.

Chiedozie Ogbene put the afterburners on to get beyond Joe Maguire at left-back for Stanley, he then cut in on his left foot and curled an effort towards the far post.

It went just wide, but it looked as though Evtimov had it covered.

Ogbene again caused the Stanley backline problems with his pace as Callum Johnson went in the book for a cynical foul on the dangerman.

On the half hour mark, Rotherham took the lead through Morris after some more good work from Ogbene.

The wide man won the free kick that allowed Ben Wiles to deliver a ball into the box and Morris took full of advantage of that by heading into the bottom corner.

Five minutes later, Evtimov had a moment of madness as he decided to rush out at the feet of Crooks 25-yards from goal. The goalkeeper picked up a yellow card for his troubles.

Sean McConville was introduced at the start of the second half as he made his 301st appearance for the club.

Rotherham came out and took control of proceedings – the returning Ross Sykes was on top of his game as he made a great tackle on Crooks inside his own area.

After the hour mark, the game opened up and Rotherham threatened through goal scorer Morris.

Evtimov was able to produce another fine save to keep the score at 1-0.

Sam Finley was so close to bringing Stanley level as his side broke and he struck first time on the edge of the box, it was inches over the cross bar.

Maguire was inches away from pulling his side level in the last 10 minutes as his shot from the edge of the box couldn’t have been any closer.

Dangerman Ogbene was shown a second yellow so the Millers had to close out the remainder of the game with 10 men.

Stanley XI: Evtimov, Johnson, Rodgers, Sykes, Maguire, Conneely, Finley, Barclay, Clark, Charles, Pritchard

Subs: Savin, Edwards, Zanzala, McConville, Bishop, Carvalho, Diallo

Rotherham XI: Iverson, Jones, Wiles, Barlaser, Morris, Robertson, Crooks, Ogbene, Ihiekwe, Olosunde, Smith

Subs: Price, Thompson, Vassell, Ladapo, Lindsay, Clarke, Hastie