Rotherham United count cost of injuries and dropped points at Blackpool

Short of game-time recently, an anorexic bench meant the striker had to put in a big shift in Tuesday's League One 0-0 draw at Blackpool.

“Jordan came off in the 90th minute and his legs were falling off,” was how manager Steve Evans put it. But when, in the 74th minute, Sam Nombe's excellent run down the right carved out a great chance, Hugill's shot skewed horribly wide.

“It just got stuck under him and I don't need to tell him he should have scored,” said Evans. “He's held it up, he's bustled, he's physically won that battle, his touch was good and if he'd got that goal it would have been an all-round good performance."

And that was the Millers in a nutshell – hard-working, decent, but not quite good enough.

If they were where they should be in the league, a 0-0 at Steve Bruce's draw specialists would go down as a good night's work when their only senior outfield substitutes, Andre Green and Louie Sibley, were benched to get a rest. Harrison Duncan's 71 minutes of senior football – if you can call a Football League Trophy game against an under-21s side that – was 71 more than Dean Gardner has played.

“I've drawn at Blackpool many times in my career and I've always come away thinking it was a good point but not tonight,” reflected Evans. “I said to them it was a game we should win.”

And needed to.

When you are 11 points outside the play-offs with now 16 games left, you must win a few matches you should not, never mind ones you ought to.

“We spoke objectively about Blackpool away and Reading away and said that if we can get four points we'll then look forward to a Yorkshire derby (at home to Barnsley) on Saturday week,” said Evans.

It piles the pressure on Saturday's game at Reading, where key players will again be missing or at best, showing the rustiness Hugill did.

“(Sean) Raggett felt his knee again so he'll see a specialist,” said Evans. “Dan Gore's seeing a specialist but we think it's weeks.

“(Johnson) Clarke-Harris was training for the last two days at 99 per cent. The big temptation was to bring him.

“Mallik Wilks the same level, Shaun McWilliams a couple of days behind them, Alex MacDonald not far off. “A couple have got a chance at the weekend but I'm a no-risk manager.

“Andre Green got a break, he looked very tired on Saturday and Louie SIbley just looked tired in the second half against Shrewsbury.”

It feels like a full-strength Millers is just around the corner only for injured players to take longer than expected to heal, or others to fill their spot in the treatment room.

There were positives. A back five worked well and the clean sheet stemmed the bleeding after three straight defeats, four in five.

Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzu looks a good signing, on loan from Luton Town. “It took us five or six weeks to get him here,” lamented Evans, pictured. “Everything that was positive, he seemed to be behind it.”

It was far from a terrible night. But Rotherham need a bit more than that.