A point earned in this close fought, entertaining encounter proved sufficient to move Valley to the summit of the league table.
After Chichester City had arguably the better of the opening exchanges, it was The Millers who came closest to breaking the deadlock during a rip roaring last twenty minutes that could have produced so much more.
Manager Kevin Watson made one change from the side that started last week’s FA Trophy clash at AFC Sudbury, with Denzel Gayle replacing Jack Sammoutis in the starting line up – opting to start with a front two of Marcel Barrington and Francis Babalola – and the creativity offered by Sammoutis and Hassan Ibrahiym remaining on the bench.
A closely contested first half saw Chi create the majority of chances with Emmett Dunn and Kaleem Haitham in particular a thorn in the Millers side, while the movement of leading scorer Tyrone Madhani proved a constant threat.
Indeed, Chi it was who created the first real opportunity of note as Haitham dispossessed Cem Tumkaya before finding Ryan Davidson whose seventh minute shot was pushed away by Millers’ keeper Chris Lewington for a corner.
Valley’s best chances of the first half followed corners from midfielder Matt Warren.
First, his 32nd minute flag kick found its way to Nathan Green whose shot was blocked, before his follow up was deflected wide for a corner.
Then nine minutes later, Connor Dymond fired narrowly wide after the ball fell to him on the edge of the penalty area.
Visitors Chichester then almost opened the scoring on the stroke of half time when Rob Hutchins cleverly played the ball inside Tumkaya for skipper Jamie Horncastle to shoot narrowly wide.
The whole dynamic of the contest changed however midway through the second half with the introduction of Ibrahiym and Sammoutis from the bench.
Just two minutes after coming on, Ibrahiym came closest to breaking the deadlock as a forceful run through the heart of the Chi midfield saw his fierce 25 yard shot beat keeper Kieran Magee before striking the angle of crossbar and post.
Ibrahiym then found Green on the left – Green’s cross/shot hitting the far post before evading his team mates as it rebounded into the six yard box.
It took Sammoutis a similar amount of time to make an impact as his free kick from the left found the head of a flying Babalola whose header was saved at point blank range by Magee.
Lewington was then called into action ten minutes from time as again Haitham found Davidson – his shot from the right again being pushed over the bar by the Millers’ ‘keeper.
And for all Valley’s second half pressure, Ethan Prichard went close to winning the game late on for Chichester – his stoppage time shot being parried to safety by Lewington to secure the draw.
MILLERS’ STAR MAN: – PAUL SEMAKULA – Hard working ninety minute shift breaking up play in front of the Millers’ back three
MATCH RATING: – *****
MILLERS : Lewington, Dymond, Green, Semakula, Blanks ©, Tumkaya, Gayle (Ibrahiym 66), Barrington, Babalola, Warren, Hill (Sammoutis 71)
Substitutes Not used : Ompreon, Tomlin, N’Guessan
Cautions : Hill
CHI : Magee, Davidson, Hutchings, Horncastle ©, Heath, Pashley, Haitham, Dunn, Hyde, Madhani, Mendoza
Substitutes : Spice, Moore, Rowlatt, Carroll
Cautions : Davidson, Horncastle, Dunn, Hutchins
Referee : Harrison Blair
Assistants : Joe Wright and Michael Taylor
Match photos by Michael Brown – @BSportsphotos