Rotherham United's juggling act as they look to get the most out of key player Ollie Rathbone as he nurses injury

With the Millers pulled to within one place and two points of the relegation zone by the weekend's results, Tuesday's match is of huge importance and midfielder Rathbone is a key part of the side, captaining since Richard Wood fell out of favour and producing performances worthy of that.

But Rathbone felt a groin injury against Reading on Tuesday and had to be substituted. He managed to play the whole of Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Coventry City but the pain since casts doubt on his ability to get through another game three days later.

Such is his importance, Matt Taylor will give him every chance to prove his fitness.

"Ollie Rathbone played in the game still with concerns and understanding of this groin issue he's got," said the Millers manager. "We'll assess him in the next 24 hours.

"He's not done much today (Monday) and there was a little bit of pain there, similar to last Monday.

"We got 78 minutes out of him at Reading and it's whether we keep putting him out there but we need our best players on that pitch."

Further complicating matters is that as well as needing the extra quality to turn possession into good chances, Taylor also feels the side needs an injection of energy after the weekend.

"I'm not a scientist but data-wise our GPS shows that second half was the lowest we've been for the last seven games and I don't think that was for the want of trying, we just didn't have it in our bodies through fatigue levels and mental strength to keep us moving as we needed to," he commented.

"That wasn't the sole reason for not playing well in the second half but it certainly played a part.

"Some players have had their first taste of a run of Championship fixtures and that's certainly going to take its toll on anyone."

Rotherham are still trying to find out the extent of Domingos Quina's knee injury, but are brace to be without the former Barnsley loanee into March at the earliest.

"The initial scan result wasn't great," said Taylor. "He's seeing a specialist in London today so we'll get a better idea.

"I expect it to be a course of injections to strengthen the ligament. It's not going to be a small timescale, it's potentially between three and five weeks.

"But we hope he can push through because when he first did the injury we didn't feel it was severe in any way, hence why he was on the bench at Reading, but the scan results have shown something more sinister.

"We'll keep on assessing and we'll be guided by the specialists."