Hitchcock joins Millers and faces former club

Yesterday, Evans completed the loan signing of QPR striker Tom Hitchcock, 21, on an initial one-month deal and he goes straight into the squad, having spent the first half of the season with Crewe where he averaged a goal every other game.

“Tom is a young man we first came across when he was very young at Blackburn Rovers,” said Evans of Hitchcock, who also scored a winner for QPR in their Championship fixture at Ipswich.

“We’ve always liked him and I spoke to Harry Redknapp about him a while ago. Although things didn’t work out at that time, we tracked him when he went to Crewe.”

Evans took over towards the end of the 2011-12 campaign, but already a number of players he has recruited have fallen out of favour and ended up being quickly sent out to other clubs.

A case in point is summer signing Michael Tidser, who recently returned to his native Scotland to join Ross County on loan after only signing a two-year-deal at the New York Stadium in July.

The likes of Daniel Nardiello, David Noble and Lionel Ainsworth – all signed in the summer of 2012 by Evans – have also all been jettisoned by the Millers chief, just halfway into their contracts, with the trio all out on loan.

Equally, Evans has not been shy to bring in players to plug the gap and shortly after Tidser’s departure, Bournemouth midfielder Miles Addison arrived at the club.

Evans, whose side are seeking to hit back after successive league losses at home to Crewe this afternoon, said: “I think we should not forget that footballers, in many senses, are self-employed. It’s about performance.

“They come together in dressing rooms as a team and it’s performance that gets you picked. There’s always going to be casualties along the way in terms of players who come in and play a part, but then the football club has to progress. If it’s about results, that could happen to me as well.”