Rotherham United and the play-offs? One man isn't giving up

The 15th-placed Millers were yesterday beaten 2-1 at home by drop-zone Shrewsbury Town, a defeat that saw the gap between them and the top six grow to 10 points with 17 matches left to play.

The boss, whose team face away tests at Blackpool and Reading in the next week, is pinning his hopes on a run of fixtures in which he believes his side can pick up results following next Saturday's trip to the Royals.

“You know and I know, until you go to a single-figure number of games, it's never gone,” he said after events at AESSEAL New York Stadium against the Shrews. “But we have a mountain to climb.

“We have two consecutive away games and then we have a run of games that we'd all welcome. I spoke to the players weeks ago about coming through Reading with a positive return.”

After a loss at Burton Albion, Rotherham beat Cambridge at home and have since fallen short at Birmingham City and against Shrewsbury.

Evans criticised referee Farai Hallam for awarding leaders Birmingham a penalty last weekend and yesterday rounded on man in the middle Dale Baines yesterday for not giving the Millers a second-half spot-kick for handball.

“You can lose at Birmingham – everyone loses at Birmingham as a rule – but we shouldn't have lost,” he said. “A dubious penalty sees us get beaten there.

“There's a dubious non-penalty today. Do Birmingham get that at St Andrew's? I'm not allowed to say it but I will say it ... of course they do."

Despite Evans' bullishness over future fixtures, the schedule doesn't look unduly inviting.

After the Reading fixture, the Millers have home matches against Barnsley and Leyton Orient with a trip to Bristol Rovers in between.

Then comes an away game at Wrexham followed by a New York date with Exeter City and a visit to Bolton Wanderers.