Cameron Dawson blow for Rotherham United ... but it could have been so much worse

The goalkeeper suffered a deep wound to his leg in the second half of the 3-3 draw at AESSEAL New York Stadium and is poised to miss the final three matches of the run-in.

There is relief in the Millers camp that the injury isn't as serious as feared in the immediate aftermath of the 77th-minute incident.

Teammate Hakeem Odoffin inadvertently caused the damage by sliding into Dawson in the build-up to Mansfield's second goal and reacted in shock afterwards.

Manager Matt Hamshaw said: “Whan Haks walked away putting his hands on his head, I thought: ‘Oh no, this could be a really bad one.’

“It still is a bad one but it's not as serious as it could have been. Cam's got a gash on his leg. I think it will keep him out for the rest of the season.”

Dawson had fought his way back into the team for the last six matches following a five-month spell when he was understudy to Dillon Phillips.

Mid-table Rotherham built up a 3-1 lead against the 18th-placed Stags as they played their best football of the season in Hamshaw's first match since the 43-year-old was given the hot-seat permanently.

However, their depleted side blew up towards the end and they were pegged back by Nigel Clough's visitors.

The Millers were without six senior men through injury and the number of absences stretched to eight when midfielder Liam Kelly and striker Jordan Hugill also became unavailable.

The former was struck by a recurrence of the bug that had sidelined him earlier this month and Hugill was missing because of a pressing personal matter.

“Liam has had a second bout of his illness, which is disappointing,” Hamshaw said. “He probably rushed back last week a little bit, if I'm honest, and it has caught up with him.

“Jordan has a family issue that I'd rather not go into. It might come out later on.”

Rotherham will hope to see an improvement in Kelly before they head to Wigan Athletic on Easter Monday when Phillips will deputise for Dawson.