New Rotherham United boss Leam Richardson hopes to have a few players back 'in the next week or two'

The newly-appointed Millers chief has been thrown in the equivalent of the deep end in taking over a club seriously short on options, form and now at rock-bottom in the table - and with the winter transfer window not yet open to potentially help them until the start of January.

For the time being, Rotherham - who face back-to-back away assignments at Plymouth and Leicester - must stay true to the club’s traditional qualities of fight and spirit at this level and dig deep.

Richardson said: “We have got to maintain our work ethic and endeavour. Listen, everyone knows we have been blighted a little bit with injuries and we couldn’t fill the bench on Tuesday.

"To do that in the Championship is unforgiving. It is a challenge, but fingers crossed we will have a few bodies back in the next week or two and January is coming up on us.

"It may be a challenge in the short-term, even moreso than going into the new year and looking forward.”

Richardson may be counting down the days before the winter window opens to enable him to start addressing deficiencies in his squad, but in the here and now, it's about working with what he has got in the building during a key period in the season.

He added: "It’s conversations we need to have going forward and a challenge that is obviously ongoing into the new year (with January business).

"But we have to keep what is good about ourselves going forward and it’s can we add more and give more and get those easy ‘wins’ sooner than later.

"I have a vision of how a football club looks. I have been at many clubs and know what a culture is and what philosophy you want to implement. Coming in at this time of year, a lot of those things are out of your control.

"You control the controllables. What have we got available and the best attributes we have got and how can we use them in the short term.”