Rotherham United boss Paul Warne offers fitness update on duo ahead of Nottingham Forest clash

Rotherham are expected to have Matt Crooks and Ben Wiles available for the pivotal game against Nottingham Forest.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The Millers have fallen back into the relegation zone after a run of three successive defeats, but they will be eyeing the points as Forest visit South Yorkshire on Tuesday.

Crooks and Wiles both picked up knocks during Saturday's loss to Norwich but should be fit.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Crooksy has been smashed on the ankle,” boss Paul Warne said.

Rotherham United's Ben Wiles is expected to be fit for tomorrow's clash with Nottingham Forest.. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Rotherham United's Ben Wiles is expected to be fit for tomorrow's clash with Nottingham Forest.. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Rotherham United's Ben Wiles is expected to be fit for tomorrow's clash with Nottingham Forest.. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“Hopefully he should be OK. Wilesy had a bit of a calf issue. Hopefully he will be OK. Everyone else is just exhausted.”

A run of 13 points from six games that saw the Millers climb out of the drop zone feels like a long time ago, but proves they can compete at this level.

Even in defeat in the last three games, Warne's side have been competitive, but the boss knows that counts for little heading into the final quarter of the season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The last three games, we were good against Cardiff, good against Bournemouth and got nothing, I thought Norwich were the better team,” Warne added.

“People keep telling me if we play like that we'll be fine but we do need points. We can't expect all the other teams to keep losing to keep us out of the bottom three.

“We have got a lot of games to go and a lot of fight in us so we are ready for it.”

The visit of Forest is the first of a number of fixtures against teams around them in the table at home which will be the games that decide their fate.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They could haul Chris Hughton's side back into danger with three points, but Warne knows it will not be easy.

“We have the same processes, we are always performances driven, not results,” he said.

“You can't go up and down like a lunatic, we are always consistent with the players and we will show them the ways we think we can cause Forest problems.

“But Forest are in good form, they won again today and they made some amazing signings in January so we know it is going to be a formidable challenge to compete with them but we are going to have to because we know we need to pick some points up.”