Little optimism over sidelined duo as scan results head Rotherham United's way

Both players were undergoing scans today after limping out of last Tuesday's League One clash at Burton Albion.

Manager Matt Hamshaw, who is preparing his side for Saturday's home South Yorkshire derby with Doncaster Rovers, fears the worst about the duo who had just returned to action after other ailments.

“Look, I think they're both going to be bad injuries,” he said. “We'll see where we are and then move forward with that.”

Twenty-year-old centre-half Hamish Douglas pulled up after only 16 minutes with a hamstring problem at the Pirelli Stadium and had to be helped off the pitch.

Wing-back Kaleta, aged 21, who had come on as a half-time substitute, failed to see out the contest as he, too, picked up a hamstring issue.

The 23rd-placed Millers will kick off against Rovers having drawn blanks in their last two outings but Hamshaw believes there are goals among his frontline contenders, record signing Sam Nombe and the three transfer-window arrivals, Harry Gray, Duncan Watmore and Gabriele Biancheri.

“I think you saw against Burton what Duncan's been brought in for - his quality,” the boss said. “I didn't bring on Biancheri the other night. But I feel like we've got decent attacking options now.

”We've just got to make sure that we're not giving these needless goals away. And then I do fancy us creating opportunities for Sam and Harry and people like that.”

The manager is only partway through the mission he began in the summer to revive Rotherham's fortunes and is hoping he is given time to finish the job amid the growing fears of relegation.

“I've made every decision as a long-term one,” he said. “It would have been really easy for me to go short term, but I don't think that's the way that this club has been successful over the years.”

Hamshaw is consumed by the process and has been stung by fans' criticism - which was vitriolic at Burton - during a testing period.

“It is frustrating, it is difficult, it is tough to take,” he said. “I don't ask for sympathy. It kills me. It's all I think about - as it should be, by the way. That's the job of a football manager.

“My job has to be to come in and make sure we're positive moving forward. That's all I've tried to do while I've been here. If you speak to the players, I've always been aligned.

“Have I had to tell them off? 100 per cent, I have. Have I praised them? Yeah, I have. The staff and I have done that in a manner that is the way I'd want to be spoken to as a player.

“The things that we don't do well - we show them, we try and improve upon them. I think there'll be signs of good things to come. That's easy to say. It has to be put on the pitch.”

Meanwhile, the absence of Douglas and Kaleta this weekend leaves the Millers without six first-team regulars as midfielders Dan Gore (shoulder) and Joe Powell (hamstring), centre-forward Jordan Hugill (knee) and wing-back Denzel Hall (hamstring) are unavailable as well.