Viktor Johansson and Michael Ihiekwe latest as Rotherham United gear up for Wycombe Wanderers clash

ROTHERHAM United will take no risks with goalkeeper Viktor Johansson and centre-half Michael Ihiekwe in tomorrow night's League One showdown with fellow high-flyers Wycombe Wanderers.
Viktor JohanssonViktor Johansson
Viktor Johansson

The pair are key men in Paul Warne's fifth-placed team and picked up back and groin niggles respectively in Saturday's 4-1 win over Portsmouth.

However, neither will play unless they are given a complete clean bill of health before Wycombe, in second spot, visit AESSEAL New York Stadium.

Both were being assessed this afternoon.

"I think their injuries eased off slightly yesterday," said coach Matt Hamshaw. "But we're in a tough run of games and we need everyone at 100 per cent. Carrying people at 90 per cent won't do us any good.

"Hopefully they're good to go again, but if not we have a number of players champing at the bit to get an opportunity."

Ihiekwe has been playing on the left side of a three-man backline and the Millers have options there in Wes Harding and Joe Mattock who has now recovered from an achilles issue.

"Joe's fine," said Hamshaw. "It's just a case of working him back up to full match-speed. He'll be involved in the next few games. He can definitely come in and do a job."

Michael Ihiekwe

Josh Vickers will make his Rotherham league debut and deputise for Johansson if necessary.

The coach says the Millers have to accept that, because of the way they play, they won't always have a full squad at their disposal.

"We demand a lot out of our players," he said. "We press high up the pitch and we want to go and get in teams' faces.

"The lads give us everything. They put their bodies on the line in every minute of every game. When you do that, you're always going to get injuries.

"You could see when we were 4-1 up against Portsmouth that there was no sitting back. We wanted to get another goal. I think we're a bit more ruthless than we have been in previous years."

The clash pits two in-form sides against each other. The Chairboys, who went up with Rotherham from the third tier two seasons ago, have won their last four games, as have Warne's team who are unbeaten in seven outings.

"I think Wycombe will definitely be up there at the end of the season," Hamshaw said,

"They are a club who have shown huge faith in their manager and allowed him to get on with his job. They've kept the nucleus of their squad together. Like us, they play with an intensity and a tempo.

"We've been on a decent run but we're not getting carried away. It's just business as usual."