New injury blow for Rotherham United's Joe Mattock

The defender was playing well as a left-sided centre-back against Crewe Alexandra at AESSEAL New York Stadium yesterday but failed to reappear for the second half because of a troublesome achilles.

He will be assessed tomorrow by the Millers who will be lacking the services of the man who replaced him, Wes Harding, following the substitute's dismissal for two yellow cards.

Harding must now serve a one-match ban.

"Joe was struggling with his achilles," manager Paul Warne said after watching his side concede an 89th-minute equaliser to draw 1-1 with The Alex.

"Unfortunately, we had to use up a defensive sub, which I didn't want to do."

Mattock, who missed a large portion of last season after requiring ankle surgery, was laid low by an achilles issue in pre-season and has also had a recent hamstring problem.

Rotherham made a second substitution, this time for tactical reasons, at the interval of their 1-1 draw, bringing on Shane Ferguson for Tolaji Bola as left wing-back.

"I just felt that Tolaji's more of a defensive wing-back and that we could get higher up the pitch with a more attacking one," Warne said.

"I thought Shane was excellent and caused Crewe all sorts of problems down his flank."

Striker Freddie Ladapo came on for the tiring Will Grigg in the 71st minute and missed a golden chance to make the score 2-0 to the home side seconds before the visitors equalised with an 89th-minute penalty.

Ollie Rathbone's first strike since his summer signing had given the Millers a 54th-minute lead as they racked up 22 goal attempts to Crewe's three.

"I'm really pleased for him. His work ethic is really good," Warne said. "His play deserved that goal to be the winning goal."

The draw moved Rotherham one place up League One into fifth spot.