No happy ending for Bantams as Michael Flynn misses the point

To get thrown the unlikeliest lifeline – and let it slither through your grasp with the last action of the game – just poked at City’s gaping wound.

But Rotherham will feel that Conrad Logan saving Michael Flynn’s tame second injury-time penalty made sure justice was done on several counts.

For one thing, the right team won. Nobody can argue with Andy Scott’s assessment that the Millers were “by far the better side.”

City matched them until half-time but then disappeared out of the game. Instead of pushing on for the win, they withered alarmingly and allowed the visitors to boss matters until those crazy three added minutes.

Given the ultimately dramatic nature of their victory, Rotherham could also claim they had avenged Tom Adeyemi-gate. They did not leave Valley Parade kicking and cursing this time.

And then there is a sense of what goes around comes around.

It was Flynn’s very hard, though fair, tackle on Gareth Evans that put his former City team-mate out of the game barely ten minutes in. And Evans now faces a spell on the sidelines with ankle ligament damage.

But his replacement Marcus Marshall later poached Rotherham’s third goal – the one that eventually proved decisive once Flynn had wasted the “get out of jail free” card in the final seconds.

And, of course, Flynn would not have been put on the spot if Craig Fagan had still been on the pitch. The skipper had announced he was handing over penalty duties after fluffing for the second time in the JPT shoot-out at Bramall Lane.

Millers boss Scott later talked of “retribution” when referring to his goalkeeper, who had bounced back from a howler against Barrow the previous week. In Rotherham’s eyes, it was an apt word to use on various fronts.

City, meanwhile, are still staring nervously over their shoulders. Thankfully Southend won the Essex derby at Dagenham to ensure John Still’s men remain in the trapdoor seats with Plymouth.

But the prospect of a season-long relegation scrap is very real. Let’s stop kidding ourselves about surging up the table and top-half finishes.

As Julian Rhodes said last week, strap yourselves in for a messy, desperate fight. Survival in League Two is all that matters.

Without sounding like a broken record, the squad at Parkinson’s disposal should possess more than enough to pull away from the ignominy of 22nd place. But names and reputations alone don’t guarantee points on the board.

They can take heart from Rotherham’s current revival. The Millers couldn’t buy a result a month ago, losing five in a row to plunge down the division.

Now they are unbeaten in six. Maybe the performances have not always been convincing – and their back four looked shaky – but they have proved how quickly fortunes can change.

It’s about time City followed that example. The cup exploits have been great escapism, and long may they continue, but the sole objective from here on in has to be rubber-stamping their spot in next season’s basement division.

Games with Rotherham have always been edge-of-the-seat affairs and Saturday was no different.

From the 70th second when Luke O’Brien fell into his own net ensuring Danny Harrison’s header did not follow, there was always something happening.

City had ridden Rotherham’s early pressure and had just posed their first question – Steve Williams seeing his header scooped off the line by Danny Schofield – when they fell behind to a contentious penalty call.

It looked a case of ball to hand more than anything deliberate when Brett Williams’ cross bounced up against O’Brien’s left arm. The assistant referee facing the play did not react at all.

But referee Mark Heywood made up his mind and, after consulting his linesman on City’s request – and being told that the flag-man’s view was “obscured” – home protests fell on deaf ears.

Unfortunately Jon McLaughlin, making his first league start of the term, could not add to his penalty-saving repertoire and foil Lewis Grabban.

Spurred on by the injustice, City responded strongly. Jack Compton, again getting the nod over Kyel Reid, gave Dale Tonge a torrid time on the left flank and set up the equaliser with the perfect cross for Chris Mitchell to ram home.

Parkinson had unleashed Nahki Wells for his first start in a partnership with Craig Fagan that screamed pace, pace, pace. Up until half-time, it seemed to be working a treat as Rotherham’s makeshift backline – minus the watching Guy Branston – were permanently on their heels.

But City had an escape in their own box where Mitchell seemed to trip Tonge. Instead of pointing to the spot, Heywood gave the free-kick the other way and amazingly booked the Millers man for diving.

It was far more of a penalty than the one he had given and yet another example of an official trying to right a wrong with another wrong. Macclesfield away anyone?

The home fans were in good voice. They sensed it was going to be City’s day.

Instead a totally different team reappeared after the break. For the second half, they were simply second best.

The spark had disappeared, passes were going astray and gaps were appearing for Rotherham to exploit.

One appeared six minutes in when Schofield fed Alex Revell in the penalty area. Nobody got to him quickly enough and his shot took a deflection away from McLaughlin’s dive and in off the far post.

Another avoidable goal to add to a bulging back catalogue.

This time there was no City fightback. Instead it stayed as you were, Rotherham still hunting in packs for a third, and it soon came.

McLaughlin saved well from Marshall but the winger got his own back by forcing in the rebound after the keeper had parried a cross-shot from Schofield.

Still there was no response of note, forcing Parkinson to go all in by making three subs 20 minutes from the end. The decision to take off the industrious Compton did not go down well in some quarters but the withdrawal of Fagan would turn out to be more significant.

James Hanson won his headers against a defence that had struggled in the air all afternoon. But there was no hint of the late drama that was about to unfold.

Many supporters had given up the ghost by the time fourth official Ross Joyce put up three minutes on the board. Nobody could blame them because it looked over.

Then sub Michael Raynes – who had only just come on to kill time – missed a clearing header in his box and the loose ball was handled by Jason Taylor. Flynn converted the penalty and a chink of light had suddenly appeared.

Hanson was a couple of shoe sizes away from converting Reid’s cross but City had a corner. Even McLaughlin joined the commotion in the penalty area.

Luke Oliver nodded Mitchell’s deep kick back into the mix; the ball was blocked and ran to Flynn, who met it with a thumping volley – straight against Tom Newey’s raised arm.

So for the second time in as many minutes, Flynn faced off against Logan. And the result could not have been more different.

The Welshman sank to his knees and summed up the collective dismay around Valley Parade.