Rotherham United commemorated the 60th anniversary of the first-ever League Cup Final – which the Millers featured in – this weekend.
The South Yorkshire side released a special edition of the official matchday programme, The New York Way, to mark the occasion for the visit of Crewe Alexandra in the Sky Bet League One to the AESSEAL New York Stadium.
Filled with archive photographs, tickets and content from stalwart reporters, the publication was modelled on the design of the original programme, printed and published six decades ago.
Back in 1961, Rotherham and Aston Villa played out the first-ever League Cup Final, which back then was over two legs. The first was hosted by the Millers at former stomping ground Millmoor, which saw Rotherham take a 2-0 lead into the second leg with goals from Barry Webster and Alan Kirkman.
The second leg was then subject to delay due to fixture congestion, eventually being played two weeks later.
But Villa didn’t let that or the score-line dishearten them, as two second-half goals saw the tie go in to extra time. Peter McParland's 109th minute goal was then enough for Villa to be crowned as the first champions.
Rotherham and Villa have only met once since in the competition, in August 2013. Paul Lambert’s Villains registered an identical score-line against Steve Evans’ men, recording a comfortable 3-0 victory to book their place in Round Three.
On that day eight years ago, supporters who attended the Final in 1961 were allowed to watch the Round Two tie for free.
