GARY Rowett will give opportunities to players who didn’t start against Stoke as Millwall aim to book a third-round EFL Cup tie against Burnley or Sheffield United when they host Cheltenham on Tuesday evening.
Mahlon Romeo should be in contention after recovering from a groin problem, but Troy Parrott is unlikely to be involved.
Rowett isn’t thinking ahead to a Premier League tie in the next round.
“We won’t look past the first game, but both the draws are at home so we can be pretty pleased with that,” Rowett said.
“Away games there are challenges with travel and logistics around hotels, so it makes it quite simple.
“It’s a good game for us in that we can go out there and play a certain way, but of course we know that Cheltenham have done well in their league [last season]. I’m expecting just as tough a game if not a tougher game than the last round.
“It gives us an opportunity to go out there and play some of those who haven’t played and see if we can put another good performance together against a side I’m sure will be desperate to progress.”
Wingers Connor Mahoney and Jiri Skalak will hope for starts against Michael Duff’s Cheltenham, who lost their League Two opener 2-1 at home to Morecambe on Saturday.
Cheltenham reached the play-off semi-finals last season, losing 3-2 on aggregate to Northampton after being 2-0 up from the first leg.
Duff wasn’t happy with his side’s performance against Morecambe.
“We didn’t take responsibility to take the ball, we went too long and defensively. I’m not quite sure what Clem [Chris Clements] was thinking with the penalty and then we compounded it by conceding a second,” Duff said. “The last two times we have played here, we have conceded some awful goals.
“Now is not the time to talk to [the players]. You talk to them on Monday and you get some clear answers. It’s frustration because in the last couple of weeks we’ve looked really good defensively and then we concede poor goals.
“We have to put last season to bed now. I know I’ve referenced it, but we have lost a game of football. We have to dust ourselves down and go to Millwall, which will be a tough game, obviously.
“We’ll see who’s fit and pick a team that we think can hopefully go and compete. The result doesn’t affect Tuesday’s game at all.”
Millwall have met Cheltenham six times in their history, winning the last five after a 3-2 away defeat in their first-ever competitive against the Robins in League One in August 2006.
Possible Millwall starting XI: 4-4-2: Bialkowski; Romeo, Muller, M Wallace, Ferguson; Mahoney, Woods, Thompson, Skalak; Bradshaw, Smith.
Match odds: Millwall 1/2 Draw 11/5 Cheltenham 11/2
Last meeting: League One; February 24, 2009: Cheltenham 1-3 Millwall
Image: Millwall FC