Referees could drive me to sleeping pills ... Rotherham United boss Steve Evans writes for the Advertiser

​If I thought it was, I'd be lying awake at night in need of sleeping pills!

This month alone, big decisions have gone against us against Birmingham City, Shrewsbury Town, Blackpool and, last Saturday, Reading.

I couldn't believe what I was watching at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

There was a very good referee in Sam Purkiss working as the fourth official while the one out there on the pitch, Thomas Parsons, was out of his depth.

I spoke to the EFL's head of referees, Mike Jones, the day after and he accepted that we had been very hard done by.

Mike's a fair guy. He agreed that the Royals' first goal should have been disallowed for an offside in the build-up and that Zak Jules' challenge on Harvey Knibbs in stoppage time wasn't worthy of a penalty.

He also said that it was a very harsh decision to rule out the Reading own goal in the second half that would have given us a 2-1 lead and put us in control of the contest.

The referee and his near-side assistant messed up on that one. Both of them had terrible days.

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I DON'T live in Cloud Cuckoo Land, I know that us making the top six is a long shot.

We need to produce four or five consecutive wins to get near to that group. That's nothing my teams, including Rotherham United, haven't done in the past.

So, yes, I do still believe a play-off place is possible.

Getting some our injured men back gives us more of a chance. We suddenly had plenty of options on the bench at Reading and we'll improve as the people returning build up their sharpness.

I believe, the staff believe, the players believe.

If it gets to the stage where I don't believe any longer, I won't be frightened to say that the ship has sailed for this term.

Then we have a process for what we need to do for next season.

This year was always going to be testing because of the rebuild required after that awful 2023/24 relegation campaign before I came back.

But we love tough challenges here. Can we still do it? Absolutely we can.

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I CAN'T help wishing that we'd signed Pelly Mpanzu sooner rather than later in the transfer window.

We chased him and chased him for five weeks but he didn't become available until deadline day on February 3.

He's hit the ground running and got better and better for us.

I'm trying not to think of all that January football when we didn't have him because he would have helped us immeasurably.

He's a physical specimen when you see him stripped off. You think: ‘Wow, with that body you should be at the Olympics!’

Pelly has everything a modern-day midfielder needs: he can play, he can stop people playing and his engine means he can get up and down the pitch for fun.

He also has a goal in him. I don't think it will be long before he opens his Millers account.

I particularly liked his performance at Blackpool last week. He bossed the game for long periods, particularly in the second half. Everything that was positive, he seemed to be behind it.

Before his loan switch from Luton, he'd not had a lot of competitive 90-minute first-team outings this season.

Then he started three matches in eight days.

He'll be tired, he'll be feeling it, but we'll look after him. He's going to be a big player for us in the next couple of months.

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THE trip to Blackpool saw us name possibly the youngest bench in the club's history.

We had three teenagers among our substitutes in 19-year-old Ben Hatton, Dean Gardner, 18, and Harrison Duncan, 17.

Jack Holmes must have been feeling positively ancient at 23!

We wouldn't have had any hesitation in introducing the kids if we'd had to.

Young Harrison joined us in the summer after we spotted him playing for non-league Doncaster City and has proven to be a real asset. He's a centre-half and I think he's already in double figures for goals this season in the youth side.

Being with the senior set-up is an education for the young lads and we're keen to see more of them come through our youth ranks and into first-team contention.

When it's right – it doesn't matter what age they are – they'll play.

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WE'VE twice taken Andre Green out of the team in recent weeks and both times it's been absolutely the right thing to do.

If you recall, our attacker came back from his 14th-month injury ordeal in December and marked his first outing with a goal and man-of-the-match display in a 3-0 win over Northampton Town.

After two more starts, he found himself on the bench.

We were expecting that to happen. We knew there would be a bit of a comedown after he'd hit such heights so quickly.

It's normal for a player who has been out for so long to have a little dip. Playing again suddenly hits them like a ton of bricks.

We took him out of the firing line for a few games and he came back in revived.

He was very, very good for us. In fact, his combined total of goals and assists for January must have been up there with the best in the division.

Then he had another little dip and he hasn't started the last two games. Time on the bench will get rid of any fatigue and give him his edge back.

Andre is such a gifted boy at League One level. Not many players have his touch, vision and ability to beat a man. We've got a real asset in him.

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VALENTINE'S Day was a bit of a washout in the Evans household, I'm afraid.

My wife and I didn't even get to see each other because I was up at dawn and off to work to make the long trip to Reading.

Sarah just opened one little eyebrow as I left at 6am.

Romance wasn't completely dead, though. She found the card I'd left in the fruit bowl and a big bouquet of flowers arrived for her later in the day.