Playing through the pain ... Rotherham United's Clark Robertson typifies how professional footballers put their bodies on the line

It was late in the FA Cup tie at Solihull Moors on a Monday night and Clark Robertson, playing at left-back for Rotherham United, moved out to take control of a ball down the line.

The Scot covers the ground well for a big man but this time his usual smoothness was lacking.

He pulled up in pain, realised he wasn’t going to get there ahead of his opponent and gingerly back-tracked to his penalty area to defend the cross.

He almost glared at the troublesome groin which was costing him his mobility on a cold December evening at Damson Park.

Robertson hasn’t been fully fit for weeks. But he’s carried on playing. It’s the way of the professional footballer.

Millers manager Paul Warne had a long playing career of his own and reckons that in nearly 500 league games he competed without discomfort in only ten per cent of them.

“There was always something wrong,” he says. “My ankle was swollen, my knee was sore, my hip hurt, my hamstring was tight, my glute was giving me bother.

“If I went through every one of my Rotherham players now and listed their conditions you wouldn’t believe it.

“My keeper, Dan Iversen, has been playing with a broken finger and then he’s done another one. Kyle Vassell is in pain with his calves at times. Freddie Ladapo has got a sore achilles.

“If you looked at the state of Michael Smith’s feet and shins, they’re disgusting. I could keep going. Its nigh-on impossible to have a pumping, fit 11.”

Warne shares his office at the club’s Roundwood training complex with three other ex-players, assistant boss Richie Barker (477 league matches), coach Matt Hamshaw (327) and goalkeeping coach Andy Warrington (483).

They all tell the same story as the manager. Warne featured in 489 league games and says: “I reckon in that amount I must have played about 50 pain-free.”

It’s how it was then, it’s how it is now.

“Players at all clubs constantly take pain-killers to get through games,” the boss adds. “I think it’s well known that our captain, Richard Wood, has a bag of ‘Smarties’ to get himself through.”

Rotherham take no risks with their squad and put player welfare before the pursuit of points but that’s not always the case elsewhere.

“I’ve known players who have taken pain-killers every single day,” reveals Warne. “That can’t have good long-term health benefits.”

The boss looks back fondly on halcyon summer days before the grind of a tough, nine-month campaign kicked in: “It always used to be great when you came back for pre-season because, predominantly, that was the only time you were pain-free.

“I used to think: Oh my god, this is how it should always feel. I could run and turn and feel brilliant while I was doing it. Then, slowly but surely, as the games came so did the niggles.”

Meanwhile, because centre-half Wood and left-back Joe Mattock have been out of action, Robertson has been soldiering on despite being hampered by a sore groin since the early stages of the season.

Last term he was one of the most assured central defenders in the Championship and unlucky not to win the international recognition he craves, so labouring slightly in League One will be hurting him as much as his injury.

The 26-year-old has gritted his teeth and put the team before himself. He wasn’t as sharp as normal when Jonson Clarke-Harris worked a yard on him and scored the winner at Bristol Rovers.

He wasn’t at his fluent best in the win at MK Dons and could barely run in the closing stages of a narrow defeat at Portsmouth before fighting on through his frustration at Solihull.

Last week he underwent a major injection, trained only once — the day before the game — and still took his place in the side that faced Rochdale at AESSEAL New York Stadium.

“I won’t have any criticism of Robbo at all because he’s putting his body on the line for us big time,” Warne says.

“You can see that after 60 or 70 minutes he’s running in pain; literally in pain, like someone is stabbing him in the groin.

“At the start of the game, when you warm up and that, you’re fine. You’ve got all your pain-killers, you’ve got all your meds, you’re on top of things.

“Obviously, as the adrenaline pumps through your body it dilutes the pain-killers so later in the game is where the pain really kicks in.

“And it’s later in the game, according to the league trends, when teams concede most goals — the last 15 minutes of each half. It’s because players are tired. If you’re tired and injured there’s even more chance of conceding.”

We’re talking in Warne’s office 48 hours ahead of the Dale clash and the manager is surveying a board on the wall that contains images of every member of his senior squad.

Only three are in the unavailable corner in the bottom right — Wood, right-back Billy Jones and midfielder Shaun MacDonald — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t little problems elsewhere.

“They’re all suffering,” Warne says. “It sounds a bit dramatic, I know. They’re not playing with broken legs, don’t get me wrong, but there aren’t many playing painlessly.

“If I look on there now, probably the only two who are pain-free are Ben Wiles and Dan Barlaser. That’s not many, is it?”

He grins as he realises how he’s tempting fate: “That’s those two crocked on Saturday now!”

Eight-goal midfielder Matt Crooks is another player whose contribution is being curtailed by groin soreness.

At some stage he is likely to require an injection which will rule him out for a fortnight but, so far, he has managed to make every matchday squad.

“It’s the severity of the injury which is the key thing really,” Warne says. “If you can get through, you do. I could always play with an injury. I just felt a bit inhibited.

“I remember having a groin issue when we reached the League Two play-offs in 1999. Me and Alan Knill both had an injection in our glutes for the second leg of the semi-final against Leyton Orient at Millmoor.

“Literally, I could feel nothing below my neck. That is a ridiculous thing to say but it’s what it felt like.

“I felt like I’d got someone else’s legs on! It’s probably why I had a good game.

“To play injured is difficult. Depending on what sort of injury it is, you can feel fine early on in a game before it worsens.”

The boss has nothing but respect for the men who accept the aches and keep going.

“You have to be strong in the head,” he acknowledges. “You do make different decisions, though.

“For example, imagine Robbo has got the ball in the left-back slot after 70 minutes. Earlier he might have gone past someone and whipped in a ball but now he’s aware that that’s going to be painful so he might play a simpler pass.

“It definitely affects you. If you’re a winger and you’ve got a tight hamstring you’re not going to run past the full-back every time you get the ball because you’re thinking: ‘I need to make sure I don’t rip this off the bone.’”

Wood is on the way back but won’t be needing his ‘Smarties’ for another week or two so Robertson remains in the firing line.

Next up Southend United away for a player, like so many, prepared to give 100 per cent when he’s not 100 per cent.