Kian Spence fitness boost as Rotherham United receive Luton Town 'game on' call
FORM team Rotherham United expect to have Kian Spence back in their ranks when they bid to extend their unbeaten League One run to seven matches next weekend.
The Millers head to Luton Town on the back of their biggest win and best display of the season - yesterday's 3-0 demolition of play-off-chasing Lincoln City at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
Spence sat out that match with a niggle but should receive the all-clear for Saturday's trip to Kenilworth Road after a scan delivered positive news.
“It's just a tight calf,” manager Matt Hamshaw said. “He felt it after the midweek match against Burton Albion.
“We've had him MRI-ed, and he's all good. Not picking him was just a precaution. Sometimes you think: ‘Just nip it in the bud now.’”
There had been a possibility that the Luton clash would be postponed when the Hatters had three players called up for international duty.
However, Jack Wilshere's team are in a rich vein of form themselves and are keen to face Rotherham, particularly as the Millers have nearly all of their centre-halves in the treatment room.
The Hatters have lost midfielder George Saville (Northern Ireland), Ipswich Town loan forward Ali Al Hamadi (Iraq) and 16-year-old full-back Fin Evans (Wales Under-17s), but only Saville has seen regular first-team action for them this season.
No team in the division can match Rotherham's present third-tier sequence of four wins and two draws, but Luton are going well under their new manager and have won their last four outings in all competitions – including seeing off leaders Stockport 3-0 yesterday at Edgeley Park.
Hamshaw said after the victory over Lincoln that he expected the match to be on and the club confirmed it in a statement this morning.
“Luton want to play us,” he said. “That's fine. It should be a good game.”
Home followers, after enduring two poor seasons under previous regimes, warmed to the quality and commitment on show at New York and responded to Hamshaw's plea for them to raise the volume.
“I felt a bit like a cheerleader with my pom-poms on, to be honest,” the manager smiled. “There's still a bit of a hangover from the past, and I get it. I understand it. But we have to move forward. I just want the fans to get behind the players. I thank them for their support today.
“Look, I've said all along, that the players need to give the fans something, and I think that that was shown in spades today – and has been in this run we've been on.”
Rotherham have received an allocation of 1,342 tickets for the Luton fixture.