Rotherham 0 Wolves 0

Let's start with some good news. The last time Wolves lost a Carling Cup second round tie against Rotherham on penalties, they finished the season with promotion to the Premier League.

Every Wolves fan would happily accept this repeat disappointment, if they knew that little treasure from six years ago was waiting for them at the end of this campaign.

All that matters now is that Mick McCarthy's players do not let this fairly grim episode interfere with the confident and progressive opening they have made to their Championship campaign.

There is something about the Carling Cup which rarely fails to bring out the "ordinary" in Wolves and this was no exception.

A much-changed team delivered a flat, uninspired performance which enabled Rotherham to reach the end of 120 minutes delighted with a stalemate.

This set up their second successive advance past Championship opposition in a shoot-out after an identical job on Sheffield Wednesday.

The setting undoubtedly played a part as much as Wolves, to their credit, refused to blame the Don Valley Stadium.

It's a fine venue – but it's more Ron Pickering than Ron Manager and a foreign environment for footballers, who need to plug into the intensity of supporters breathing down their necks from four sides of the stadium to reach optimum levels.

Last night's 5,404 spectators were pretty much packed down one side to make this an unusual setting, which further diluted the players' competitive juices. To deny this had as much an impact as the changes McCarthy made would be foolish.

Not for a moment am I suggesting they did not care about this outcome, while there would have been no complaints from their manager about their effort.

The body language before and after the shoot-out did expose a group of players who, no matter how they tried, had not been engaged by the occasion.

Certainly, they were never anywhere near the emotional levels Rotherham reached, as they continue their plucky fight against two administrations and the League's 17-point penalty.

If nothing else, at least this proved to McCarthy that he knows what his best side is at the moment. No Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, no Matt Jarvis, no George Elokobi, no Dave Jones and no Chris Iwelumo.

Without such key figures from the encouraging league start, Wolves retreated to the stodgy, flat-line levels that we saw too often last season.

Their attacking ventures came in straight lines of 4-4-2, with not even Michael Kightly able to find some extra ingredients despite a shovel load of running.

With all but one of those players set to return at the weekend, it made the scouting expedition of Nottingham Forest manager Colin Calderwood pretty much redundant.

As the tie lapsed into a kind of training ground intensity for Wolves, McCarthy's only satisfaction would have been to have seen key fringe players get a useful workout.

It was also another opportunity for the ever-game Neill Collins to try out his stand-in role at left back, in the event he could be needed there for a spell.

It is a role the central defender takes on with a shrug more than any complaint and was conducted with mixed results last night.

McCarthy swapped Collins and Richard Stearman for the latter phase, in an effort to try to get the latter forward.

Neither would claim to be an Elokobi and the Cameroon man's injury is vexing for all. You will note by now little mention of any goalmouth action – that is largely because there wasn't any worth recounting.

Kevin Foley and Stephen Elliott, who was denied by a wonderful Andy Warrington save in a moment which possibly sums up his Molineux career to date, were the players whose misses gave Rotherham their chance, for a victory more vital to them than defeat was disappointing for Wolves.

Their most impressive player, Reuben Reid, duly completed the execution with a composed finish to the left of Carl Ikeme.

Rotherham celebrated lustily, while the devoted knot of Wolves fans were probably grateful for their merciful release from another Carling Cup endurance test.

Rotherham: Warrington, Lynch, Sharps, Fenton, Nicholas, Cummins, Danny Harrison, Hudson, Rhodes, Broughton, Reid. Subs: Cann, Mills, Taylor, Burchill, Tonge, Yates, Green.

Wolves: Ikeme, Foley, Collins, Stearman, Gray, Kightly, Edwards, Henry, Darren Ward, Stephen Ward, Keogh. Subs: David Jones, Davies, Iwelumo, Daniel Jones, Potter, Elliott, Hennessey.

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)

Attendance: 5,404