Rotherham United boss intends making most of good numbers

International trio Semi Ajayi, Kyle Vassell and Marek Rodak have all reported back fit for duty and they join a squad bolstered by the return from injury of Clark Robertson, Jamie Proctor and skipper Richard Wood.

It gives manager Paul Warne some welcome selection dilemmas for tomorrow’s home date with Bolton and Tuesday’s trip to Middlesbrough and he intends utilising numbers as best he can.

He told the Advertiser: “Touch wood that nothing happens in the run-up to the game, but the only people we have missing are Shaun Raggett and Darren Potter so it looks I’ve gone from having 15 fit players to 20 and that’s what really good news for everyone.

“Having a strong bench and being able to make changes for tactical as well as performances reasons doesn’t half help.

“There will definitely be one or two good players who won't make the bench for the Bolton game but then we have another one at Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

“Boro have a really good home record. I watched them play Sheffield United earlier this season and the game was over by half time so it might mean we need to go up there with as many fresh legs as possible and we could swap it around completely.

“We’ll try and pick a team we think will win tomorrow and we’ll try and pick a team we think will be competitive and win on Tuesday night, that’s the challenge of the job.”

Norwich City loan man Raggett is recovering from a fractured ankle and is not expected to return to training on the grass for another four weeks. Potter’s Achilles injury has kept him out for the best part of 12 months and has required two operations. He will not play again until 2019.

Next opponents Bolton have tailed off after a good start and a win for the Millers, in 19th,would move them to within a point of Phil Parkinson’s team. Warne isn’t fooled by their patchy form.

“They have a lot of attacking prowess and they're really organised and don't concede many,” he added. “It will be a hard task for us but then again, you don't look at any home fixture and think 'that'll be an easy day at the office.’ That's isn't the case. Each team presents different problems and I think Bolton are a better footballing side than people might think.

"We've done well at home. We know we’ll be competitive and as always, you need that little bit of luck as well to get a win.”