Waiting is over as Vassell gets Northern Ireland call

The forward is in Michael O'Neill's squad for the UEFA Nations League ties away to Austria on Friday and Bosnia and Herzegovina next Monday.

"I'm over the moon, it has been a while coming," Vassell told the Advertiser. "I've been speaking to the manager (Michael O'Neill) and chief scout for a while and they have been following me closely. I'm grateful that my opportunity has come and it's my first ever call-up, so I'm really excited.

"Playing in the Championship, of course it is going to attract attention. I've been playing quite well, and out of position as well, and I think the manager has appreciated that and have given me the opportunity to go and play."

Millers team-mate Richie Towell is expected to overcome a knee injury in time to take advantage of his first Republic of Ireland call-up for their UEFA Nations League matches against Denmark on Saturday and Wales next Tuesday. Both are in Dublin.

Marek Rodak is in the full Slovakia squad for their games against Czech Republic and Sweden.

Ryan Williams gets a shot away in Saturday's defeat at Birmingham. Picture by TREVOR PRICE

Rotherham, meanwhile, will use the international break to get players back fit and re-group, having slipped to a sixth Championship away defeat out of six at Birmingham on Saturday. Lukas Jutkiewicz scored all the Blues' goals in a 3-1 win.

Manager Paul Warne said: "I'll give the lads a couple of days off so they can get away from my voice and each other for a bit.

"We'll also go through the good and the bad of the Birmingham game. We slashed at crosses, which isn't like us. We didn't really take opportunities one v one out wide as much as we normally do and we turned down chances  to shoot. We'll also show them how great we are when we do those things and we'll get them ready for the next game."

The Millers sit 19th in the Championship after 12 matches and resume at home to Bolton a week on Saturday.