Matt Taylor happy with Rotherham United's January recruitment - now he has to go and justify it

Rotherham signed seven players in January – striker Jordan Hugill and defender Sean Morrison on permanent deals, and five others on loan, including Tarique Fosu from Brentford and Leo Fuhr Hjelde from Leeds United

Conor Coventry was brought in as a direct replacement for Dan Barlaser, the main outgoing who signed for Middlesbrough, and Bailey Wright was brought in until the end of the season after Morrison was unfortunately sidelined for the season with a torn quad on Monday.

"I said from the start we have to be bold and positive with our work, it was important we got some bodies in early in the transfer window," said Taylor, who got another loanee over the line in Domingos Quina from Watford on deadline day.

"We were able to get good players in week two and three and that set the tone for what we were trying to achieve.

"I’m sure that and the results that we’ve had in the middle of the month maybe persuaded players and twisted their arm to come to us.

"We had a plan, something we were constantly working towards, (head of recruitment) Rob Scott and his team have worked fantastically hard and sensibly in their approach.”

And he also cannot say he has not been backed financially by chairman Tony Stewart – support that comes with a caveat: now go and secure your objective.

"We have to think about where we are, it’s a relegation battle and survival is our only thought and will be for the rest of the season," said Taylor who succeeded Paul Warne in October when Rotherham’s mid-table position always felt a little generous.

"But we have to be ambitious in the way we set the team up and the way we play and conduct ourselves.

“We’ve shown what can be done within a certain type of restraint, within the wage structure of the club.

"We’re sat here positive, but we have to play well, we have to play in a structured manner and we have to work hard.

"One thing we’ve prioritised in this window is how hungry the players are and how much they need to it to work. In all cases we’ve felt they needed it to work for them. I want hungry players, I want ambitious players to make us better.

“You need financial backing from the powers that be and they’ve certainly done that.

"We feel we’ve worked so, so hard, and people say you’ll get your rewards but it doesn’t work like that.

"We’ve still got to work hard, even harder, because we’ve still got to put it all together to a product on the pitch.”