Rotherham United believers give cause for hope but more consistency is needed to prove doubters wrong

The Millers restricted the Championship's top scorers to just three shots on target on Tuesday but when the second just about found the net in the 88th-minute – Ollie Rathbone's clearance hitting Jack Taylor then dribbling in off Viktor Johansson – it looked as if that was that, a 2-1 win for the Tractor Boys.

Rotherham like proving people wrong, though.

Christ Tiehi hit a wonderful finish – guided rather than blasted because he is nursing a pelvic problem, manager Matt Taylor suggested – to claim a point in stoppage time.

Taylor briefly made Tiehi Rotherham's record signing last summer before beating it to bring Sam Nombe from his old club Exeter City.

It was Nombe who set the ball rolling, opening the scoring just four minutes with his first Millers goal in his maiden home start. That will have quietened a few doubters too after he has struggled to dislodge Jordan Hugill since joining.

"I think a lot of our players including myself like to prove people wrong and that helps us to get more geared up for the game,” he said.

"People probably doubt us more here but even at Exeter people doubted we could get promoted so you've just got to prove them people wrong.

"There's probably a few people who said I couldn't play at this level so I'm just trying to prove them wrong and carrying on proving the people who believed in me right."

Daniel Ayala was making his first Millers start but it was his centre-back partner Hakeem Odoffin, a midfielder who never really seemed to convince Paul Warne but who has become talismanic under Taylor, who led the defensive rearguard.

It just shows what the confidence of a manager who can be bluntly honest about his players' deficiencies can do.

"I chose to come here because I had such a good relationship with all of the staff and the manager back at Exeter so to have that belief and that comfort with a manager who you know is going to push you to play well and improve, you just want to carry on doing that," said Nombe.

The Championship is far too rigorous an examination to blag on self-belief alone, but Tuesday suggested there is something there for Rotherham to harness. They have beaten Norwich City and Coventry City this season and drawn at Southampton, and at home to Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End.

But the league table they are 22nd in tells you they need more – far more away and more consistency everywhere.

"Ipswich are second in the league, the highest scorers in the league, and we've gone toe-to-toe with them," Nombe pointed out.

"It just gives us more and more belief that we can compete with anyone and we should carry on believing in ourselves and pushing ourselves to get to that level and even higher."

Taylor sees signs of progress.

"We've lost one in five which for where we are is a big improvement but that one was a hammer blow because it was Sheff Wednesday," he said. "We feel like we're improving but we need more points to get us into the realms of safety and get that next group around us so we're challenging people above us as opposed to below.

"The biggest thing I'll take from the last two games (the other a 1-1 draw at home to Queens Park Rangers) is the spirit we've showed and the skillset we've had but now we have to back it up with more performances and more results.

"Tuesday reminded me a little bit of the Burnley game last season, certainly in terms of the scoreline and the way the game went and we kind of produced our best.

"But that's because the opposition attack us as well and sometimes we really struggle when teams sit in and make us force the game. We've not always got the skillset to do that."

Saturday's hosts Watford are a big club whose results have moved a bit closer to their stature in recent weeks. Hopefully we can see the best of Rotherham once more.