Struggling Miller granted training break (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: Struggling Miller granted training break

6:00am Friday 22nd March 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

PAIN, NO TRAIN: Tommy Miller

TOMMY Miller has been given permission to miss occasional training sessions as he deals with a niggling calf injury.

The Swindon Town midfielder against Yeovil on Tuesday night despite the nagging irritation of the knock and is expected to feature for the Robins in some capacity when Notts County come calling tomorrow afternoon.

However, in order to keep the veteran 34-year-old fit, manager Kevin MacDonald has had to allow Miller to take a leave of absence from certain sessions to work on strengthening and condition the problem are in the gym.

And the former Sunderland man says that decision has turned out to be a good one.

“The ground as well hasn’t helped, the pitches have been quite heavy and it’s just something that’s niggling away a little bit,” he said.

“I’m on top of it and the manager’s given us a little bit of freedom to miss a training session and go to the gym to just keep up with it so that has helped.”

Of all the pitches in League One, the County Ground playing surface on the face of it appears most conducive to the Robins’ preferred passing style.

However, results at home have been inconsistent throughout the season, and Swindon appear on course to record more away victories than home wins this term.

Miller, like most of the squad, can’t understand it.

“It’s very strange and it’s something we need to sort out as we come to the final stage of the season,” he said.

“You look at our pitch and it’s one of the better ones. Ours is a good surface but certainly some of the pitches we’ve played on have been very tough, very heavy and not giving us a chance to get the ball down and play on.

“You look at the highlights of some games on a Saturday night and the pitches have gone.”