Mahlon Romeo needing toe injections to play – as Lions boss Rowett admits number of squad struggling on

Mahlon Romeo is playing despite needing injections in his toe – with Millwall manager Gary Rowett revealing a number of his squad have ongoing niggles.

The Lions head to Middlesbrough on Saturday and are still expected to be missing Connor Mahoney (quad), Kenneth Zohore (calf) and Billy Mitchell (hamstring).

Jake Cooper has played the last two matches despite dislocating his shoulder at Birmingham City.

Mason Bennett made his return from a quad problem in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with QPR.

“Mase got through it fine,” said Rowett. “You could see at times that he’d only trained two days. He gave us something a little bit different – a bit of pace, strength and ability to ride a challenge, come out with the ball and head towards the attacking third.

“We missed him, in that sense.

“Scott Malone had a little bit of an issue, just tight. It’s a strange season with so many games that we’ve got about five or six players that have got issues and are trying to get through.

“Mahlon is a classic example. He’s had injections in his toe every game and not trained for one minute. That, at some point, will be a problem.

“They are trying to get out there and get through it. It’s maybe why performances haven’t been as good as we’d like.

“But we should have more players available for the next games.

“I don’t think Connor will be fit but he is getting back to some form of fitness. Hopefully by the end of this week we’re not far away from having a few more.”