Rotherham United v Bristol City: Matt Taylor keeping head above water after a year with the Millers

The Millers chief has swam in Championship waters which have been decidedly choppy at times.

But he has kept his head above water and earned the respect of his club's supporters and second-tier observers in the process.

Keeping the Millers in the division last season was a fine achievement. Should Rotherham maintain their Championship status next May, it will be an equally excellent feat, make no mistake.

Given what Taylor must come up against on not just every match-day, but working day.

He must continue to swim with the sharks.

Availability issues have stalked the young Millers chief continually since his arrival from Exeter City and the build-up to this evening's game is no different, even if their options look a little bit better with Cafu and Grant Hall in the mix tonight along with Lee Peltier.

On his Championship experiences thus far, Taylor said: "It's incredible.

"The depths of the squads, the clubs must have this. It takes its toll, people say it's the most demanding league in the world and you can understand why.

"I am sure it lacks quality in certain moments and certainly at Rotherham United, of course we do.

"But in terms of the actual demands, it's incredible to witness and battle and where we are in terms of what we have available and what we can put out there every single day, let alone every single game. But it makes it all the more worthwhile if you believe you can do it and we showed we could last season and we can certainly do it this season."

As it stands, the Millers home form is keeping them in with a fighting chance of achieving their aims of survival.

Equally, Taylor is wise enough to know that the club's away statistics must start to improve incrementally to give themselves true hope.

But first things first. Bristol City present enough of a challenge in itself, with the Robins having been beaten just once in four away games this term.

Taylor added: "There is no bigger aspect than our home games.

"We should have got more out of Blackburn and apart from the last 20 minutes against Leicester, we were really in that game.

"We beat a serious team in Norwich and Preston were top of the league and we competed with them.

"The pressure is to address the away form because the pressure on our home form will become too much."

On his team news for the encounter with the Robins on Wednesday, Taylor - who will celebrate his first anniversary in charge of the club - commented: “Yes, they (Cafu and Hall) should be involved.

“All of a sudden, three senior ones who have that know-how about them should hopefully be available and we pray that we get through tomorrow (Tuesday training) unscathed."