What Matt Hamshaw wants to see between now and the end of Rotherham United's season

The new boss took the reins late last month and has instigated a huge upturn in results, performances and the mood in the Millers camp in his short time in charge.

He wants his side to continue to show signs of progress in their final four matches in readiness for better things in the next campaign following the shortcomings of this one under the previous regime.

Speaking soon after yesterday's 3-1 loss at promotion contenders Stockport County had ended his three-match winning run at the helm, he said: “There were some things today that I really liked in the performance and some things we need to improve on.

“Every game we have, we need to be three or four per cent better. If we can do that, by the end of the season we'll be in a much better position going into the summer.”

The clash at Edgeley Park was a match too far for a squad hit by absentees and playing for the fourth time in 12 days.

“I learned a lot from it,” Hamshaw said. “I learned a lot from the victories as well. The players are all pulling in one direction again, which is great. They all want to be involved in it.”

The Millers, who slipped a place to 13th spot, were without six injured players against County, although they welcomed back midfielder Liam Kelly and striker Jonson Clarke-Harris after sickness.

The former came on as substitute in the second half and clearly wasn't in peak condition while the latter remained on the bench.

“Kells and Jonno had only 10 minutes on the training ground on Friday because we didn't want them to pass on the illness they've had,” Hamshaw said.

“Kells has had a right good go but you can see he's not the same player because he probably hasn't eaten in the past week.”

Rotherham competed well in the first half and went in at the break level at 1-1 but they faded after the interval as they brought off players and lost some of their shape.

“Some of the things towards the end of the game are more on me than the team because of the structure,” Hamshaw said.

After a hectic start to his time in the hot-seat, the manager is glad of a free week before the bank-holiday weekend brings a Good Friday home contest with Mansfield Town and an Easter Monday trip to Wigan Athletic.

“It's important,” he said. “We'll finally be able to do some work on the training pitches. Up to now, it's been play, recover, play recover.

“Then we've got Friday, Monday, which is obviously going to be a tough ask.”