Leam Richardson calls for home flourish for Rotherham United fans on Saturday

The bottom-placed Millers have crashed to heavy defeats in their last two outings, both away from home, and next up in their season of misery are Huddersfield Town who head to S60 on Saturday.

The head coach praised the loyalty of followers who made trips to Coventry City and Norwich City to watch their team be dismantled 5-0 on both occasions.

He knows his men will feel some trepidation when they step out at AESSEAL New York Stadium against the Terriers but is urging them to overcome their apprehension for the sake of the club's suffering supporters.

“As a player or a manager, you should always be aware of giving the fans something to appreciate,” he said. “It's expensive for a family to go to a football match.

“Fear can do one of two things: it can hinder you or it can make you stand there with your chest out and do something about it. That's what we'll try to do.”

Rotherham have only pride to play for, in contrast to 22nd-placed Huddersfield who are in the thick of the scrap for Championship survival and will be cheered on by a sold-out away end when they make the short trip from West to South Yorkshire.

Drainage issues continue to affect the Millers' Roundwood base and Richardson remains frustrated at how often bad weather is forcing them off the two pitches at their training complex.

“I've been brought in as head coach,” he said. “It's been difficult because we've not been on the grass and I've not been able to coach. I've been able to coach probably 30 per cent of the time I've been here.”

The 44-year-old inherited an injury-hit squad already at the foot of the division when he was appointed in December and is trying to make the League-One-bound Millers competitive in the campaign's final nine matches

Many of the players will depart in the summer and until then the former promotion-winning Wigan Athletic manager, who has also been a respected number two at Accrington Stanley, Chesterfield and Portsmouth, is doing his best to lift rather than lambast.

“I've been aware of that since I came in,” he said. “The fragility of the squad, the numbers ... you try to cajole and help until the end of the season.

“I've got to lead. In football, confidence is everything. You get judged in the moment.

“It doesn't matter how consistent I've been in building clubs in the past, football has no memory. People just concentrate on the here and now. We want to change our present.”