Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York blared out at the stadium which bears the same name as Rotherham United took their Championship survival bid to the very last week of the season.

For these little town blues we know as Rovers, the season has long since melted away, and it remains to be seen how much of a brand new start of it next season will bring and how many fans will want to be a part of it.

As a 31st game of the season passed without a win, they’re far from top of the heap.

Tony Mowbray has very much done it his way and will continue to do so as he now heads into his fifth summer as Rovers manager, and facing the biggest rebuild since relegation from the Championship in the first of those.

The first signs of that came after the game in which Lewis Holtby’s absence was explained by the fact he won’t be offered a new deal, his time at the club coming to an end in something of a whimper after great promise when his pen first touched the signature line in September 2019.

Promising much and under-delivering has been symptomatic of Rovers for some time. If winning is a habit then it’s one they looked to have kicked some time ago.

Three points were at their mercy after Adam Armstrong put them ahead with goal number 26 of the season and thereafter they had chance after chance to ensure a similarly comfortable afternoon as the one they enjoyed against Huddersfield Town.

Yet issues which have proven to be symptomatic of the season reared their ahead and came to the fore once more, a lack of care with the final pass, or finish, Mowbray lamenting the decision-making of his side who squandered golden opportunities infront of goal, and even more on the counter-attack.

For as clinical as they were against Huddersfield, they were wasteful here, and the levels to which their finishing can swing from composed to profligate in the space of just seven days is another to add to the list of this team’s frustrations.

Armstrong could have had himself another hat-trick such were the chances that came his way, none better than the one shortly after the Millers equaliser, but to credit Jamal Blackman in the Rotherham goal, he stood up to the task well to ensure they held onto the point courtesy of a late equaliser.

Keeper Blackman also denied Bradley Johnson with a fine one-handed stop to keep out the midfielder’s header which looked destined for the top corner early in the second half.

Yet there is something so disappointing at the way in which chances come and go for Rovers. The old adage of ‘the concern should come when you’re not creating chances’ doesn’t always seem applicable for this side who so often fail to make the most of the opportunities that come their way.

Yes Armstrong hasn’t always proven 100 per cent reliable when played through, but with 26 goals to his name, he at least has credit in the bank.

Twenty-six goal strikers don’t go on trees, Armstrong’s build-up play and threat again far removed from a six languishing in lower mid-table, and there remains a real concern of how Rovers go about replacing him, and his goals, not least with Bradley Dack sidelined.

And so having passed up chances to kill the game, Mowbray feeling Rovers could have been four up by the break as Armstrong was twice denied by Blackman and Joe Rothwell blazed over from a promising position on the stroke of half-time, they had to try and see it out the hard way as the game ticked on.

With Rotherham in a nothing to lose situation, they piled bodies and balls forward, and to their credit, Rovers looked to have dealt with it well, Taylor Harwood-Bellis in particular standing up tall to repel much of what came their way.

Facing an opposition willing to put the ball in your box at every given occasion, there is always the chance of something dropping their way, and it did in the 85th minute, a free kick won for a foul by Darragh Lenihan from which Lewis Wing curled home, bemused looks in the Rovers camp as to how it found its way beyond Thomas Kaminski.

And for a period, Rovers wobbled, George Hirst found unmarked from a corner, Kaminski redeeming himself with a smart stop at the near post, and the period after conceding is an area where they do looked particularly vulnerable.

However, from there on in, all of a sudden Rovers found signs of life, substitute Harvey Elliott playing through Armstrong who was denied one-on-one, Brereton unable to turn in at the far post when a corner flashed across the Millers box, and Harwood-Bellis headed onto the roof of the net.

As the final whistle blew, the Millers lived to fight another day, Rovers to rue more points tossed away.

They won at the New York Stadium in their penultimate fixture of 2015/16, and haven’t won at the home of the Millers since.

There they ended the season with back-to-back wins to finish on 55 points, Paul Lambert leaving that summer, Owen Coyle installed and a failed transfer window left Rovers relegated the following year.

The Rovers rebuild then proved too much, a repeat Rovers certainly won’t want, or to allow the way this season has faded away to drift into the next campaign.

Where Lambert opted not to, Mowbray will get the chance to overcome a disappointing end to a season, and he has already stated he’s looking forward with positivity, not trepidation, concern or worry about how a side with just three wins since January and the prospect of losing their star striker can force an immediate upturn in their fortunes.

What it could do is offer a chance to reset, several senior players are coming towards the end of contracts which are at the higher end of Rovers’ wage scale, with Holtby’s departure confirmed in the wake of the 1-1 draw.

The first challenge to Rovers is to work out what they want to be, and recruit accordingly. How are they going to bridge the gap between themselves and where they want to be in the current financial climate. If they can’t do it with money, the club needs to find a direction and ethos right through the very heart of it.