Rotherham 2-1 Sheffield Wed
- Published
League One Rotherham upset local rivals Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup as the visitors' Jermaine Johnson was sent off for a head-butt late on.
Kick-off was delayed 15 minutes because of crowd congestion, but the hosts were soon on their way as Ben Pringle smashed home from outside the box.
Rhys McCabe's curling free-kick gave Wednesday parity but Lee Frecklington fired in from 20 yards shortly after.
As Wednesday's pressure faded, Johnson clashed with Pringle to earn red.
Johnson had been brought on as a substitute only 18 minutes before he was heading back to the dressing rooms with his side down to ten men in his wake.
The dismissal fuelled a full-bloodied atmosphere among the 11,433-strong sell-out crowd in the New York Stadium who had already seen their side take a decisive lead through two superb long-range strikes.
Pringle's rasping 20-yard effort gave Chris Kirkland no chance before Frecklington's sweet strike flew past the Wednesday goalkeeper for a second.
In between those two goals, McCabe's precise free-kick had briefly levelled the match, but Wednesday rarely looked like finding a second equaliser.
Manager Steve Evans watched on as his Rotherham side's well-organised defence repelled their south Yorkshire neighbours before Johnson's dismissal undermined Wednesday's attempts to find an equaliser.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Dave Jones:
"You can't headbutt somebody, he's [Jermaine Johnson] done it before and it's not acceptable for this football club.
"He's been told I can't defend it and neither can JJ. We're trying to get back into the game, it's hard enough with 11 men and going down to 10 makes it more difficult. He'll be punished and rightly so because I lose him for three games."
Rotherham manager Steve Evans:
"It was a great win for us against a great football club. We always believed we could win but we knew we would have to play well.
"We did our homework and we had a game plan. We have talented players and we scored with two great strikes.
"It was a magnificent cup tie and it was a great achievement for this football club to win at home for the first time against Sheffield Wednesday for 37 years."
- Published3 August 2013