York City v Rotherham Utd: Best yet to come from the Millers as York eye double

The Millers have made what Steve Evans manager describes as a “steady” start to life in League One, with 19 points gained from their opening 10 games.

Only Peterborough United have beaten them, in a classic smash-and-grab raid 10 days ago, to leave Rotherham sitting handsomely in sixth place and looking comfortable in the play-off places.

As they head to York City 
tonight for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second-round tie, they do so with one eye on Saturday’s visit of Swindon Town.

The Robins will be the next to test Rotherham’s staying power, an examination Evans’s men have passed frequently this term.

Saturday’s win at Brentford, last season’s beaten play-off finalists, was as complete a performance as Rotherham have produced, which further enhances the belief that they are more than capable of launching a bid for a second successive promotion.

Ten games is often regarded as the first significant milestone in the season, but Evans believes that, with more to come from a side that is still adapting to life in the third tier, they should not be judged just yet.

“If we’ve gone 30 games and we’re still competing at the top end then we might have made a statement,” said Evans, whose side have lost just twice in all competitions.

“Every game in this division we’re finding to be a tough 
afternoon and all we can do is put our best foot forward and work as hard as we can.

“I think we can be better than where we are. I look back at some of the games we should have won; we didn’t start well at Crewe, we had home draws with Shrewsbury and Preston, and we lost a game against Peterborough where it was hard to say how we lost it.

“So it’s a steady, reasonable start, but we can get better.

“We think there’s more to come. We’ve got good players here. We’ve not added a great deal of strength since the summer so what we said all last year about us being ready for League One rings true.”

Tonight’s Yorkshire derby offers a few fringe players the opportunity to force their way into the manager’s thinking, players like Matt Tubbs, who has yet to score since joining in August.

Kari Arnason is on international duty with Iceland while Evans will take the chance to rest a few players who have featured in every game so far, meaning Scott Shearer, Joe Skarz, Alex Revell and Lee Frecklington are all in line for a breather.

Evans said: “Whatever group we pick, it’s either boys who are desperate to stay in the starting XI or those that are desperate to get into it, so the team should still be strong.

“It’s not a priority for us, but we have the competition and the sponsors to respect and we will do that.

“It’s our focus in so far as it’s our next game, but we’ve got a massive game on Saturday.

“Plus they’ll be hanging off the roof to beat us at York.

“They’ve scored a lot of goals in the last couple of games so we’ll have to be ready for that.”

Evans’s York counterpart Nigel Worthington has promised to put out his “best team possible” as his side look to maintain the momentum created by back-to-back wins in the league.

The Minstermen also have the incentive of wanting to claim the scalp of the Millers for a second successive year in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy following their 1-0 victory at the New York Stadium 13 months ago.

York manager Worthington said: “We want to keep our performance levels up and keep the run of results going. We had a bye in the first round and if we can get past Rotherham then we would be into the last 16.

“It won’t be easy against a very good Rotherham outfit, but we want to keep things moving in the right direction.”

Competition rules restrict the number of changes a manager can make in the Trophy, with clubs duty bound to select either at least six of the 11 that started the previous game or at least six of the 11 players who have made the most appearances this season.

Worthington, who has had only a brief taste of what began life as the Football League Trophy when in charge of Blackpool in the late Nineties, said: “We will be putting out our best team possible.

“My thinking is that you have to respect a competition and the sponsors who put money into football.”

Richard Cresswell is back in the squad after serving a three-game ban for his red card against Mansfield Town last month.

Worthington has reported no fresh injury news from the weekend victory at Torquay United.

Last six games: York LLLDWW, Rotherham WWWDLW.

Last time: York 0 Rotherham 0; October 6, 2012; League Two.

Referee: M Haywood (West Yorkshire).