New update on Jamie McCart and the length of his Rotherham United absence

The centre-half, described by manager Steve Evans as “the player of the season so far”, limped out of the warm-up at Leyton Orient last Tuesday with a calf issue and is facing a significant spell on the sidelines.

“He's going to be at least a month,” said manager Steve Evans after yesterday's 2-0 League One home win over Stevenage. “It's not going to be three or four months.”

The boss described the problem as a grade 2c tear. That means it's a partial tear and a return by Christmas is a realistic target.

McCart, who had been a league ever-present up until the Orient clash, had a similar complaint in the summer and was back within two months.

“He came through it then and he'll come through it again,” Evans said. “He's been really, really good for us.”

The manager described the absence of the defender as “a blow” but is enthused by the impact of replacement Zak Jules who has battled through a family bereavement to finally start showing his best form since his June move to AESSEAL New York Stadium.

“He's playing like the player he was at Exeter City,” Evans said.

The victory over Stevenage lifted Rotherham to 14th place the boss bemoaned other injuries that he reckons have stopped them being higher in the rankings.

The Millers are also without strikers Jonson Clarke-Harris (hamstring) and Esapa Osong (groin) and centre-back Sean Raggett (knee) while right-back Joe Rafferty (groin) and midfielder Liam Kelly have both spent time in the treatment room.

“Injuries have prevented us playing a system and style we had in mind,” Evans said. “Key players have been missing at different times.

“We were missing Joe Rafferty for a period of time. He's back now but he's still catching up. Liam Kelly came back for the first time in six weeks at Orient and looked as if he needed football and time on the pitch.

“Sean Raggett, hopefully he's going to come back in sooner rather than later, but he's then going to need that time to get up to speed as well.

“Jonno was probably at 8/10 in terms of where we needed him to be and suddenly gets injured and drops back again.”