Matt Hamshaw yearning for missing men as toothless Rotherham United give up home record

The Millers slipped to their first home defeat of the campaign and finished the match against Stockport County with no recognised centre-forwards on the pitch.

The manager can't wait to have hitmen Sam Nombe (hamstring), Martin Sherif (hamstring) and Kion Etete (knee) out of the treatment room and available again.

“You look at Stockport today, they've looked a threat,” Hamshaw said. “I think that we'll look a lot better when we have those attacking players that we're missing at this moment.”

Rotherham lost 1-0 at AESSEAL New York Stadium after County scored in the second half and Millers substitute Liam Kelly had a late close-range effort ruled out for offside.

There were some boos at the final whistle as the home team dropped three places into 21st spot and Hamshaw understood supporters' angst.

“I'm disappointed, obviously, to lose that home record,” he said. “I'm disappointed that the fans don't go home happy tonight. I'm as frustrated as they are.

“But I just feel that in two to three weeks we'll be a different team. That's easy for me to say now. But you saw our bench today - there were no strikers on it.

“Today is disappointing because I felt that we didn't perform anywhere near as well as I expected us to. I thought lads gave their all but we just had a lack of threat in that final third.

“We have to work hard as a squad, we have to make sure that we believe in the process that we're working on.

Hamshaw substituted Josh Kayode around the hour mark as the player is still finding his feet after being sidelined for more than a month and then later also brought off another frontman, Jordan Hugill, who was having little impact on the contest.

“I'm bringing Josh off early because he's just coming back,” the manager said. “That's a frustration. Fans are probably thinking: ‘Why is he bringing him off?’ That's the reason.

“I want to keep him on, I want every player to play 90 minutes. But I'm well aware that when they're returning we can't break them.”

Stockport boss Dave Challinor was pleased to see his eighth-placed side take off the shackles as they closed to within a point of the play-off reckoning.

Kyle Wootton’s goal proved to be the difference between the two teams.

Challinor said: “To get three points on the road is valuable at any stage of the season. I thought we were far too safe in the first half, and you know what you’re going to have to deal with when you come here.

“We did that okay in the first half. But to be the team that we want to be, we need to be better than okay and back ourselves in possession.

“We showed more intent in the second half and played the game in the areas where we wanted to be.

“Can we work on our quality? Yeah, absolutely. But, all in all, I was delighted with the second half and three points.”