Alec Bruce likes what he's seeing from a man bidding to kick-start his Rotherham United career

Marvin Kaleta thrust himself into contention for a Rotherham United first-team league start with a performance off the bench that had boss Alex Bruce singing his praises.

The attacker came on during the second half of the 1-1 draw with Crewe Alexandra at AESSEAL New York Stadium on Saturday and immediately started causing problems for the opposition with his pace and directness.

The 22-year-old is seeking to put fitness issues behind and establish himself at the club he joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2025.

"He did great, didn't he?" said Bruce. "It's been difficult for Marv because he's had a few injuries. He had a lot of injuries last year, I'm told. He's had to drop a lot of weight.

"He's getting himself in a better physical state. He needs to keep working on it. You can see his attributes, you can see he's got talent. I thought he was a real bright spark for us this afternoon."

Kaleta was restricted by a variety of injuries to just 22 outings last season as Rotherham slipped into League Two before Bruce's arrival.

This term, he was hit by a hamstring problem and didn't play at all until he made the starting 11 for Tuesday's Jersey Mike's Trophy tie at York City.

The return of the wide man is a timely one as the Millers have been hit by a recent glut of injuries and are particularly short up front.

Bruce wants to see more consistency from him and also from some of his teammates who are still getting up to full speed after missing part or all of the pre-season programme.

"I think it's a lot of the players," the head coach said. "They need to work hard on their fitness. I've just said it to the lads, individuals have had a lack of minutes in pre-season or not had any pre-season - Dominic Iorfa, for example. But you can't keep hiding behind that excuse. You've got to work hard, get yourself in good physical condition. That's what being a professional footballer is.

"A few of them need to work hard to get to a base level of fitness where they can cope with playing on Saturdays and Tuesdays. And when they get to that, the injury list will reduce. It's not rocket science."

Rotherham ended the contest in 12th position but finished the day a place lower following Salford City's evening win at Oldham Athletic.

"I believe Rotherham should be up towards the top end of League Two," Bruce said. "When you take into consideration the changes - a new boss, loads of new players - and needing to stop this habit of losing that's been going on in the last few years, I didn't expect it to be all plain sailing.

"One positive today is that we haven't been beaten. We're unbeaten at home in the league. We need to keep building, keep working hard and, if we do that, we'll get better."