Rotherham United vs Milton Keynes Dons preview - Mattock should make Millers clash

Posted Friday, August 07, 2015 by PA

Rotherham boss Steve Evans hopes to have Joe Mattock available for his side's Sky Bet Championship opener with MK Dons.

Mattock has not played since injuring his ankle in a pre-season game against Dundee a fortnight ago and is rated as 50/50 by Evans to make it.

Evans has better news with the return to fitness of Danny Ward (ankle) and Lewis Buxton (calf) and the Scot must decide which 12 of his summer signings to hand debuts to.

One man who is unavailable is defender Kirk Broadfoot, who begins a 10-game ban for verbally abusing James McClean last season.

The Dons, in the second tier for the first time in their brief history, will be without Mark Randall for the trip to South Yorkshire.

The midfielder, who spent a loan spell with the Millers, is injured and is expected to be the only absentee for the men from Milton Keynes.

New signings Simon Church, Cody Cropper, Dale Jennings, Cristian Benavente, Rob Hall, Sam Gallagher, Matthew Upson and Sergio Aguza are all available to make their debuts for the club.

Joe Walsh is in line to make his first appearance as a fully-fledged Don after his loan spell from Crawley was turned into a permanent deal during the summer.