CAMERON Brannagan will be assessed ahead of tomorrow night’s game with Ipswich Town after being substituted at half-time in Oxford United’s 3-1 defeat to Rotherham United.

The midfielder was making his return after being rested for two matches due to a knee injury.

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It was initially sustained in October, but since returning last month the issue has continued to cause pain and the 23-year-old looked out of sorts against the Millers.

Boss Karl Robinson said: “He said he was fine, but I think we all saw he wasn’t his usual self.

“He’s got a nick in his knee ligament and the last bit to heal is the pain.

“There’s no issue with it, it’s just dealing with the pain threshold.

“We’ve got to assess that and see where we’re at for Tuesday.”

Brannagan’s below par display helped Rotherham win the midfield battle in a first half where they built a commanding 3-0 advantage.

But Robinson also felt Alex Gorrin, another to come off after 45 minutes, was affected by an early yellow card.

He said: “Alex got so emotionally attached to the game and wanted to fight everybody and forgot we were playing football.

“We’re not a wrestling team, we’re a footballing team.

“He cares so much the boy, so he runs around with tremendous heart and desire.

“These are just small things we’re going to work on and get better. We’ll lose more games than this.”

While United were defeated, their performance in the second half did give reasons for optimism.

Rotherham were pinned back for a spell, with the hosts electrified by substitutes Marcus Browne and Nathan Holland.

Robinson said: “I thought the two of them were sensational.

“We weren’t good but did enough I felt in the second half.

“We were more dominant in the second half than they were in the first half, but we didn’t take our chances.”