Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Rotherham 0

Last updated : 05 April 2003 By Footymad Previewer

Rotherham goalkeeper Mike Pollitt frustrated 10-man Wolves play-off push with a stunning display at Molineux.

Pollitt stood firm with an outstanding performance, capped by an 88th minute penalty save from Colin Cameron, as Wolves dropped two crucial promotion points.

Despite the fact that Wolves had to play for 75 minutes with ten-men after seeing striker Nathan Blake sent-off, they made light of Rotherham's numerical advantage to dominate affairs.

Wolves lost the services of Blake after just 14 minutes when referee Andy Hall had no hesitation in showing him the red card for allegedly elbowing the Rotherham's Shaun Barker.

But the loss of Blake did nothing to diminish Wolves impetus that they had built up inside the opening 10 minutes.

Twice Pollitt had to come to the rescue of Rotherham, tipping an attempted clearance from his own defender Chris Swailes over the bar before spreading himself well to deny Blake.

Pollitt then performed heroics three minutes before half-time when Rotherham failed to fully clear a free kick from Denis Irwin. Kenny Miller lifted the ball back in and Shaun Newton fired in an acrobatic overhead kick.

The Millers keeper was caught off his line but managed to back pedal quickly enough to palm the ball over the bar.

Having been penned back for long spells in the opening period, Rotherham emerged from their shell at the start of the second half to finally pose a threat to the Wolves goal.

Chris Sedgwick saw his close-range drive deflected wide after 51 minutes before Alan Lee beat goalkeeper Matt Murray with a header three minutes later only to see his effort drop inches the wrong side of the post.

But the best chances continued to fall to Wolves only for Pollitt to again deny them.

He somehow managed to get a hand to a close-range header from George Ndah after 76 minutes before seeing Newton blaze the rebound over the bar from three yards.

Wolves frustrating afternoon was then perfectly summed up two minutes from time, when the referee pointed to the spot after Dean Sturridge had been fouled by Stuart Talbot.

Pollitt once again proved to be more than equal to the task as he dived to his right to palm away Cameron's spot-kick.

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