Wolves forward Liam McAlinden: I'm ready now

The energetic performance of the 20-year-old striker was one of the few bright spots to emerge from the disappointment of Saturday's 2-0 defeat to MK Dons.

Head coach Kenny Jackett took off 12-goal top scorer Leigh Griffiths and winger Bakary Sako – who is the club's second top scorer with six – at half-time after accusing them of not working hard enough.

McAlinden at least showed plenty of movement and had three efforts, firing one shot wide, another straight at keeper David Martin and had one effort disallowed for offside.

Wolves go to in-form Millers on Saturday aiming to stop the rot after back-to-back defeats and two wins in eight games.

The Cannock-based forward says he is ready for more action after being recalled from his loan at Shrewsbury, where he scored three goals in five starts plus a further four appearances off the bench.

"I feel ready for my chance and hopefully I did well enough to impress the gaffer," said McAlinden, who played alongside Kevin Doyle before Jake Cassidy joined them in the 88th minute.

"I had a few chances on Saturday and hopefully can do the same this week if I'm involved.

"When you come on at half-time you're expected to make a difference. I didn't take my chances but wasn't too far away.

"Hopefully against Rotherham there will be more and we can take them and return to winning ways.

"Goals do help confidence. I've been scoring recently and certainly feel I'm not lacking in confidence.

"There might have been a bit of a dry spell here, but it might only need the one goal to get going as we've got some good goalscorers.

"As soon as we start kicking on and all the strikers start getting goals, we'll be right up there at the top."

McAlinden isn't frightened of missing chances and is confident he can score goals in League One after his spell at Shrewsbury.

"I had a few chances and they didn't go in but hopefully if I keep playing doing well they will come for me," he added.

"I enjoyed my time at Shrewsbury. It's a good club and Graham Turner gave me plenty of appearances.

"I've been used to a lot of Under-21 football at Wolves of a very high standard.

"It's a lot more physical at League One level, but you get used to it and I think I'm ready now. I didn't feel nervous at half-time when I knew I was coming on."

Jackett was pleased with McAlinden's input and confirmed the homegrown youngster will be in his plans for Rotherham.

"He had two main efforts, one which went wide of the post and the other straight at the goalkeeper," he said.

"I'm looking at different combinations right the way through of our forward players to make the difference."

Jackett acknowledges Wolves are in their first 'wobble' under him and vowed they must snap out of it quickly.

"To lose two games on the trot is not a nice feeling, particularly with our aspirations," he said. "We need to show a better hunger and desire to want to win the game than we did on Saturday. We have to learn our lessons and come out fighting in the next week."