Burton Albion v Rotherham United: Youngster ready for debut after behind-scenes work
Mid-season signing Lino Sousa could be in line for a Rotherham United debut at Burton Albion after having been built up physically since his arrival on loan from Aston Villa.
Injuries have been a constant irritation for the Millers for far longer than just this season, so manager Matt Hamshaw has tried to ensure the 21-year-old wing-back is robust enough to be thrown into League One football.
Sousa has played in the division before, on loan at Bristol Rovers last season, and in the Championship during a spell at Plymouth Argyle, but he has not played senior football this season, and even his time on the field for Villa's under-21s has been reduced by a hamstring injury.
He sat out the game at home to Cardiff City but the Millers have had 10 clear days since to work on his fitness.
“We've just been careful with him,” said Hamshaw. “He has been injured, but he had been training at Villa for two to three weeks before coming to us.
“He trained in his first week here and then trained last week. He'll be in contention against Burton.”
Rotherham can go above the Brewers with a game in hand by winning in the Midlands. Unless they win at Huddersfield Town on Tuesday, the same would be true of Doncaster Rovers, who they host in Saturday's South Yorkshire derby.
"It's a big week,” said Hamshaw. “They're both big games. Every week's going to be a big week from now until the end of the season.
“We have to be better than we were against Cardiff (a 3-0 defeat). We have to get back to the levels that we showed at Exeter City the week before that (winning 4-0 ). If we do that, we'll be fine.
“We have to make sure that we have that intensity and not kind of go through the motions, like I felt we did against Cardiff.”