Neil Redfearn gives his team news ahead of Seagulls clash...
Rotherham United manager Neil Redfearn insists he will wait to hear news on the fitness of a number of his players ahead of Tuesday night’s Sky Bet Championship showdown with Brighton and Hove Albion.The Seagulls arrive at AESSEAL New York Stadium unbeaten on the road in their 2015/16 league campaign with the Millers looking to make amends for their defeat at Leeds United in the FA Cup on Saturday.
With the likes of Farrend Rawson, Stephen Kelly and Leon Best already ruled out the Millers’ boss says he will let the clock run as close to kick off as possible to allow the players on the injury list the maximum time to recover ahead of the first of a double header of home fixtures for his side.
“We have to give our best players a chance of being fit so we have our strongest 11 out, so that’s what we’ll do,” Redfearn told www.themillers.co.uk
“We’ve got a couple of ways of playing now and we can go 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 and the lads know the system and the style of play but it’s important that we get everybody out there that we can, fit and available for selection.”
On loan Manchester City defender Shay Facey was utilised in a more advanced role to nullify the threat posed by Charlie Taylor at Elland Road at the weekend, but had to be withdrawn after concerns about a hamstring injury with Jonson Clarke-Harris taking his place at the interval in West Yorkshire.
Redfearn is confident that the one-time New York FC man will be available for selection for the game against Chris Hughton’s side and insists his withdrawal was just a precautionary measure to ensure he didn’t join the players on the densely populated injury list.
“We had to protect him. He’s trained again this morning and he said he feels fine,” he explained.
“I think it was the pitch and the fact it was his first full 90 minutes [at Preston] as regards competitive football other than friendlies.
“I think you have to be careful because we’ve got so many injuries and players missing and we have to be careful with the lads we’ve got and it’ll be important that we are able to put out our strongest side in the game against Brighton. “
Rotherham-born Frazer Richardson also returned to the side in the right back position having missed out on the action in recent weeks, after sustaining a concussion in the clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage and his performance against his former club pleased the Millers’ manager.
“I think it’s the first time he’s gone back to Elland Road since he left and I thought he really played his part,” Redfearn enthused.
“I thought we looked strong down that right hand side. Carayol had a couple of little flurries before the goal but other than that we kept him quite quiet and the game plan towards that end was working quite well."