Rotherham 0-1 Plymouth: The Millers' two-year stay in the Championship is OVER as Bali Mumba hands visitors a huge win in basement battle

Rotherham bowed to the inevitable as their relegation to League One was finally confirmed while Plymouth gave their own survival chances a shot in the arm.

The Millers have known their fate for a long time. Just four wins from 41 games and 82 goals conceded tell a very sorry tale with the only real surprise being they clung on into April.

Having stayed up relatively comfortably under Matt Taylor last season, they haven’t been anywhere near Championship class this time around in a campaign of bitter blows.

Millers midfielder Ollie Rathbone summed it up: ‘The table doesn’t lie and we just weren’t good enough.

‘The Championship is tough, especially for the team with the smallest budget and the worst training ground - we’ve had loads of issues with that.’

At least manager Leam Richardson has the knowhow to get a team out of League One, having guided Wigan to the title ahead of Rotherham in 2022.

‘From pre-season, this club has been chasing its tail. The writing has been on the wall and it’s a bitter pill to swallow,’ Richardson said.

‘This summed up the whole season, lacklustre and lacking in desire.’

For Plymouth, Bali Mumba’s first-half goal may well prove of inestimable importance.

This win took them four points clear of danger and they’ll now put feet up and see how Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday fare on Saturday having jumped up two spots to 19th.

Argyle gambled this week by sacking manager Ian Foster after a torrid run which sucked them into the mire.

They resisted the temptation to hire ‘Houdini’ Neil Warnock and interims Neil Dewsnip and Kevin Nancekivell oversaw a vital win.

The Pilgrims still have big games against the likes of QPR, Millwall and Stoke to come, all teams around them in the table, so there can be no let-up.

‘It’s always traumatic when a manager loses his job but we had to move on and three points and a clean sheet was a perfect response,’ said Nancekivell.

‘The group's galvanised. They're fantastic and really tight. They've been together and had a lot of success over the last few years. We'll get our heads down.’

A tight opening befitted the jeopardy of the occasion with Plymouth’s Callum Wright the first player to get a decent sight of goal on the quarter-hour, when the sliding Hakeem Odoffin blocked his effort.

Rotherham had given themselves a stay of execution by beating Millwall on Easter Monday - their first win since Boxing Day - and the odd bit of early pressure suggested they were still battling.

In the 17th minute, Sam Clucas saw a low effort from range lack the power to trouble Argyle keeper Michael Cooper. Pretty appallingly given their situation, that was Rotherham’s last shot in the entire half.

Gradually, Plymouth, backed by an impressive contingent who’d travelled from Devon on a Friday night, began to look the more threatening with talisman Morgan Whittaker pulling the strings.

Wright headed wide from a Ryan Hardie delivery when left unmarked in the middle but Plymouth would take a crucial lead just after the half-hour.

Unsurprisingly, Whittaker was the architect, stepping infield from the right, getting his head up and pinging a sweeping pass out left to Mumba.

It had just enough elevation to clear Seb Revan’s despairing leap to try and intercept, with Mumba controlling perfectly and beating Viktor Johansson smartly at his near post.

In a moment, Plymouth rose two places in the standings but it left Rotherham needing two more goals to stave off relegation a little longer.

Plymouth continued to apply pressure and Wright’s back post header was repelled by Johansson as the half drew to a close.

Rotherham needed to show more fight and shortly after the restart, Odoffin headed over from a Clucas corner in a brief lift for the largely resigned home crowd.

But they were soon holding on again as Whittaker effortlessly skipped into a pocket of space before whipping a shot that Johansson turned away with his fingertips. Moments later, he curled another effort straight at the Swedish keeper.

Richardson rolled the dice with a triple Rotherham substitution but the direction of traffic remained largely in Plymouth’s favour, with Johansson getting down to save from Jordan Houghton.

The Millers’ Cohen Bramall might have given some hope but he directed the ball wide after a Clucas corner somehow found its way to him when unmarked at the back post.

There followed a better opening for Revan, who shrugged off Mumba to fire off a shot that Cooper dealt with well and Odoffin wasn’t too far away with a further shot.

Argyle almost wrapped it up when Ben Waine headed onto the post from Adam Randell’s corner and Waine should have scored when Revan played a poor back pass, only for Johansson to block.

But Rotherham had nothing left to fight the dying of the light as they went down with a whimper.