Lincoln City v Rotherham United: Steve Evans plotting big January transfer window to revitalise Millers

Well adrift of the top six as it stands and also too close to the League One trapdoor for comfort, the Millers are assigned with revitalising a hitherto soporific campaign which has been eminently forgettable so far.

That will turn to restlessness and anger if things don’t improve soon among the club’s understandably tetchy fanbase, with Rotherham having six league matches to navigate in January, alongside an EFL Trophy tie.

As well as his side finding a spurt of form, Evans is also keen to freshen up his squad. His message to players who he feels have under-performed so far is also a stark one.

Evans, pictured, who will turn his attentions firmly to recruitment matters in the first full week of January, said: “It’s been a tough two and a half years (for Rotherham).

“We are all working hard to try and stop the bleeding and change it. We still have confidence we will do that.

"In my first year here, we were 13th in the middle of January, but we then got it right with who we brought into the football club and who we moved out.

“That is going to be a big objective and the players have two big games to demonstrate that they can play here.”

Ahead of visiting Huddersfield Town on Saturday for a Yorkshire derby, the Millers first call in at Sincil Bank, a venue where they have won on five of their six previous visits so far this century, drawing the other.

You have to go back 25 years to August 1999 for the Imps’ last league victory over the Millers on home soil. Evans, whose side have won just once on the road at league level this term, continued: “You don’t get bigger away games - other than going to Birmingham City - than Lincoln and Huddersfield.

"I watched a full re-run of (Huddersfield v) Stockport, a full 98 and a half minutes of it and they gave Huddersfield a tough day and they were begging for the final whistle on 60 minutes.

“I said to Dave (Challinor) before the game (on Sunday): ‘how did your team come away with nothing?’ I also thought we shouldn’t have come away with nothing against Wigan.”

Despite bringing little to the table from an attacking perspective, the Millers’ defensive fortitude was admirable in their 1-1 draw with County.

For Rotherham, the problems are at the other end of the pitch, with Evans having sympathy with his captain in Jonson Clarke-Harris, who he feels is currently being starved of service.

He added: “Our defensive analysis in terms of conceding goals is very good, but other than Northampton and Peterborough (games), are we creating enough chances for Jonson Clarke-Harris to score goals?

“Jonno has battled ever so hard, but did the (recent) action actually create him a couple of chances? I’m not so sure we did.”