Paul Warne has five reasons to stay cheerful at Championship basement boys Rotherham United

THE decision of Paul Warne not to '˜destroy' his beleaguered Rotherham United side following last weekend's torrid 5-0 thrashing at Cardiff City is probably a wise one.
Paul Warne.Paul Warne.
Paul Warne.

Given a horrendous campaign in which everything that can possibly go wrong pretty much has for the stricken Millers, Warne acknowledges the futility of further sapping his players’ confidence by letting the bad feeling linger following events in South Wales.

Bottom of the table since September 27 and with no realistic chance of Championship survival, Rotherham were in a hopeless predicament regardless of their grave weekend loss.

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Warne did feel that there were mitigating circumstances in that loanees Semi Ajayi and Tom Adeyemi were ineligible against their parent club, with the Millers chief also hopeful that the key duo of captain Lee Frecklington and top-scorer Danny Ward could return for Saturday’s trip to Brentford.

Loan winger Carlton Morris could also be in the reckoning for the first time following a hamstring injury.

Warne said: “I will have Ajayi, Adeyemi and Wardy back. With any luck, by the weekend, I will also have Frecks and Morris coming in from Norwich.

“So I can add possibly five better players than the ones we had at Cardiff.

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“We are a little squad and I am not going to destroy the lads. We performed well last week (against Huddersfield). Maybe Cardiff was just a step too far against a team in form. Whatever could go wrong did.

“I have to accept the fact my lads under-performed and we lost 5-0. It is a better way to think than we played at our best and lost 5-0.

“It would be a very depressing situation for me if that is the best they have got and we lost 5-0 away from home.”

The Millers will afford themselves the dubious ‘honour’ of securing an unwanted club record of seven successive away league fixtures without a goal if they fail to score at Griffin Park, having equalled the record last weekend. Rotherham’s last away goal arrived at Fulham on December 13.

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Blackburn Rovers have appointed former Middlesbrough chief Tony Mowbray as the club’s new manager.

The 53-year-old, recently at Coventry, has signed an 18-month contr act and succeeds Owen Coyle, who left the Championship club by mutual consent on Tuesday.