Steve Parkin accused Andrew Davies of letting City down with the red card that rules him out of their play-off opener.

The centre half played in Saturday’s goalless draw at Cheltenham to prove he had recovered from his calf injury.

But he was sent off after an hour for a second booking after pulling back winger Jermaine McGlashan and will now be banned for the home semi-final against Burton on Thursday.

Davies was yellow-carded by referee Andy D’Urso in the first half and had been warned by Phil Parkinson during the break to steer clear of any further trouble.

Assistant Parkin defended the decision not to take the defender off at that stage. He said: “Andrew’s an experienced player, he’s 28 now. We explained to him to use his head and not get involved in anything.

“He’s been in need of a full match, having had the best part of a week off, and we were desperate to give Rory McArdle a breather. He’s had a tremendous season but needed some time off.

“Andrew was walking a tightrope but we told him to be whiter than white; just defend properly – and unfortunately he didn’t do that.”

The Davies dismissal soured an otherwise satisfying end to the regular campaign. Despite making eight changes, City foiled Cheltenham’s hopes of snatching automatic promotion in a dour encounter.

Parkin said: “The players have got to take a lot of credit. The feeling was that we weren’t weakening the side with all the changes.

“They have been terrific over the past five or six weeks in terms of their attitude and motivation around the building even though they’ve not been in the team.”

Parkin felt City’s performance also silenced veiled criticism from Rotherham boss Steve Evans, who had questioned their motives for planning so many changes.

He said: “We completely answered it. We don’t ever have to question our integrity and the way that we do things.

“We’re very professional and we picked a team to win the game. No disrespect to Cheltenham but I think if we’d had 11 men on the pitch we might have done that.”

Burton’s win over champions Gillingham ensured they will renew rivalries with City once more. The sides have already played three times and the Brewers lost at Valley Parade only nine days ago.

Parkin said: “Both teams will be glad they played each other so recently because they know each other well.

“Burton are there on merit. We know they have some dangerous players and good goal-scorers.

“It’s really important that people don’t get carried away thinking and talking about Wembley. We’ve seen that happen so many times and then you come a cropper.

“I can assure you that we’re looking no further than Thursday and then the second game on Sunday. That is our focus.

“It’s now, hopefully, a three-game season and it’s important we are completely focused. The players were back in yesterday and nobody is resting on their laurels.”

City are optimistic that Kyel Reid could be clear to resume training today following his groin strain.