A toothless second half display saw The Millers crash from the FA Cup at the first time of asking following last season’s heroics.
A 16th minute strike from Tony Mendy was enough to see The Reds secure their first FA Cup scalp in five attempts, despite Valley enjoying the lions’ share of second half possession.
The thing about possession of a football though, is that it doesn’t win football matches unless you create chances to hurt an opponent hell bent on survival and pushing the parameters of gamesmanship to the n’th degree.
After a few feisty exchanges in the opening minutes – Matt Warren fortunate to escape only a ticking off with a first minute lunge – The Millers were first to take control of the game as a header back to Uxbridge keeper Tyler Tobin from Alex Paine fell short – the custodian narrowly beating Millers’ striker Francis Babalola to the loose ball.
As the visitors embarked on a good spell of pressure, Marcel Barrington won possession on the edge of the Uxbridge area before passing out to Nathan Green on the left whose goal bound drive was pushed to safety by Tobin.
Just after a quarter of an hour however, the hosts took what proved to be a decisive lead.
Winning the ball in centre field, Prince Ogunmekan supplied Mendy on his left – Mendy’s drive proving too hot for Valley keeper Chris Lewington to keep out.
Mendy now started to make his mark on the game – and what a superb performance he gave.
Following a long ball forward, the striker’s strength proved too much for Millers’ defender Connor Dymond – Mendy firing narrowly wide.
Just before the half hour mark came another of the game’s pivotal moments.
A strong run down the left by Green saw him play the ball down the line into the path of Ade Adeyemo. Before the Valley youngster could take possession of the ball, he was summarily wiped out by a flying tackle from the side – the end of the influential Adeyemo’s afternoon while the aggressor went unpunished.
Still causing problems for the Millers’ rearguard, Mendy pounced on loose play in the visitors midfield to strike a fierce drive that Lewington did well to parry to safety.
Valley midfielder Jack Sammoutis broke through from midfield shortly before half time to fire in a shot that Tobin pushed to safety, before Referee Luis Nunez brought an end to the half with the hosts edging an even contest.
As the second half opened, Mendy was again the first to threaten – beating Lewington to a long ball forward before Dymond cleared his goalbound effort off the line.
And minutes later, a superb central run from Ogunmekan saw him beat Cem Tumkaya before passing to Mendy, whose drive beat Lewington before hitting the bar.
With Valley seemingly intent to maintain possession in and around their own half, a well disciplined midfield wall of Red – marshalled superbly by skipper Alan Hedley – kept the visitors comfortably at bay.
On a rare home crusade, Mendy took possession on the left of the visitors penalty area before stumbling to the ground – feet from defender Tumkaya.
Much to the surprise of those close to the incident, not only did Referee Nunez award a free kick, but he presented a yellow card to the perplexed Millers player.
With gamesmanship (game management, call it what you will), now coming to the fore, it seemed an age before Mendy eventually lined up to take the free kick.
What followed though was another piece of magic from the Reds’ striker as his strike from 18 yards out and wide on the left, beat Lewington before again striking the bar before rebounding across the six yard box, with no-one there to convert.
As Gavin Tomlin replaced Denzel Gayle to hopefully provide some teeth to the attack, a rare foray behind the wall of Red saw Green’s drive from the edge of the box pushed wide by Tobin – Dymond hooking the resultant corner over the bar from within the six yard box.
The closing twenty minutes (plus 5 (?) minutes stoppage time) were played out comfortably by an Uxbridge side well drilled in the art of holding a slender lead in Cup football and fully deserving their pathway into the First Round Qualifying.
MILLERS’ STAR MAN: – MARCEL BARRINGTON – His work rate not matched by a sadly lacking cutting edge
MATCH RATING: – ***
REDS : Tobin, Lopes (Farhall 74), Sota, Poley, Haugh, Hedley ©, Ogunmekan, Paine (Adesoye 64), Mendy (Akintunde 87), Talla, Martin
Not used: Iyayi, Ndukuba, Kurti, Mughal
MILLERS : Lewington, Dymond ©, Green, Tumkaya, Gayle (Tomlin 74), Sammoutis, Barrington, Adeyemo (Semakula 71), Babalola, Warren, Morath-Gibbs
Not used : Blanks, Salmon, Beerling
Cautions : Semakula, Tumkaya, Morath-Gibbs
Referee : Luis Nunez
Assistants : Christopher Fernandez, Anthony Cox
Att: 85
Match photos by Michael Brown – @BSportsphotos