FA Cup: Rotherham - 2 Southampton - 1: A ginger-haired chap in a tracksuit and seemingly powered by batteries danced a jig of delight on the touchline here last night but it was not Gordon Strachan.
The elation belonged to Ronnie Moore, the Rotherham manager whose popularity in these parts has led to a brewery naming a beer in his honour, and his euphoria was understandable after orchestrating one of the shocks of the third round.
All Strachan could do was watch sullenly from the opposite dug-out. His side were out-manoeuvred and eventually out-fought by a team languishing 18th in the First Division, whose reward will be a home tie against Crewe and the possibility of navigating a passage to the fifth round for the first time since 1968.
Eighteen years have elapsed since Rotherham last contested an FA Cup tie against top-flight opposition at Millmoor and the clamour to see whether they could reach the fourth round for the first time since 1993 led to the game being delayed for 15 minutes because of crowd congestion.
If that heightened the sense of anticipation, the opening goal six minutes before the interval cranked up the decibels a few more levels. When Kevin Watson swung over an inviting free-kick from the left, Richard Barker exploited hesitant defending with a firm header beyond Paul Jones.
Strachan had been unimpressed beforehand to learn that Moore had ordered the Millmoor groundsmen to reduce the width of the playing surface, with the Machiavellian intention of denying Southampton space to operate on the flanks and congest the midfield.
It was a ploy that Moore, doing a passable impersonation of Strachan on the touch-line, will reflect had minimal success during the opening half-hour as the Premiership side, playing some elaborate football on a testing pitch, began in the more convincing fashion.
Agustin Delgado, the £3.2 million recruit from Necaxa, provided their finest opportunity of the first half with a cute backheel from Jason Dodd's low centre, forcing Rotherham's goalkeeper Mike Pollitt into a fine save. But there was little else in terms of incisive football from Strachan's side before half- time.
Instead Rotherham threatened to extend their lead, with the emphasis on profiting from Rob Scott's rapier like throw-ins into the penalty area.
There was little of aesthetic value to Rotherham's approach but much to be admired about their work ethic and, nine minutes after the interval, the supporters crammed inside this tight little ground had further reason to celebrate.
This time Chris Sedgwick picked out John Mullin's fine run with a weighted ball and the midfielder's finish from just inside the penalty area was exemplary.
At that stage Southampton looked beyond the point of recovery until Andy Monkhouse pulled over the substitute Kevin Davies. A penalty was awarded by the referee Matt Messias and Marian Pahars set up an anxious finale.
ROTHERHAM: Pollitt, Hurst, Scott, Swailes, McIntosh, Sedgwick (Daws 84), Watson, Mullin, Monkhouse (Talbot 71), Warne, Richard Barker.Subs Not Used: Gray, Robins, Branston. Booked: Warne. Goals: Richard Barker 39, Mullin 55.
SOUTHAMPTON: Jones, Dodd, Bridge, Williams, Lundekvam, Svensson, Marsden, Telfer, Fernandes (Davies 62), Pahars, Delgado (Le Tissier 79). Subs Not Used: Moss, Monk, Tessem. Goals: Pahars 70 pen.
Referee: M Messias (York).
