into their club teams following the World Cup.

Striker Shawn Goater has played in Rotherham's last two matches because of the injury to winger Des Hazel while Meshach Wade and Kentoine Jennings at Hereford and Kyle Lightbourne of Scarborough have made recent appearances as substitutes.

Goater, the most experienced of the four, has seized his chance by laying on the last-minute goal for John Howard, which gave the team a 1-0 win over Northampton Town in the FA Cup on Tuesday night.

Goater, the top scorer for Rotherham before he joined the Bermuda team on World Cup duty, is looking for his first goal for the club since October 3 when he scored the winner against Huddersfield. And though he has had to settle for a spot on the wing, the 22-year-old Bermudian is happy just to be in the team.

"Now I'm trying to get in at centre-forward, but both strikers (Tony Cunningham and John Howard) have been scoring,'' Goater explained after Tuesday's win, which set up a fourth-round home tie with Newcastle United, the First Division leaders.

"John Howard has only got three goals and while I was away he played in eight games and wasn't scoring.'' Goater played a part in Howard's winner against Northampton. "My header was saved by the goalkeeper who palmed it up in the air and John was there to head it back in,'' he explained.

Goater was moved into the middle when Cunningham was taken off in the closing minutes and his header from a free kick set up the goal.

Combined with four games in the Reserves, Goater has now gone six games without a goal since his return to the club five weeks ago, though he says the Premier Division clubs like Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday have been fielding as many as six first-team members in their Reserve teams.

"In the last two games my fitness has come back up to standard so there is no excuse why I shouldn't get on the scoresheet apart from being in the middle,'' he stated.

"But as long as we're winning, chances will come. I had a first-half header hit the post so sooner or later they're going to go in.'' Goater is confident of keeping his place for tomorrow's league match with Blackpool. There is another match -- next Tuesday against Wigan -- before the Newcastle match on January 23.

Saturday's 3-2 win over Reading put Rotherham into fourth place in the Second Division standings, three points behind second-placed West Brom with a game in hand. However, Rotherham nearly threw away the win after going 3-0 up in the first half.

"When we went 3-0 up we came out relaxed and as a result of the telling off their gaffer gave them they came out chasing everything and before we knew it it was 3-2,'' Goater said.

Lightbourne's Scarborough, chasing promotion from the Third Division, found themselves trailing 3-0 at one stage against Bradford City in the Autoglass Trophy on Tuesday night before coming back to 3-3 and eventually losing 4-3 to a last-minute goal.

Lightbourne came on as a sub in the 70th minute when the score was 3-1 but finished the match still seeking his first goal as a professional.

"I had a couple of shots blocked on the line so it's been a rough time trying to get my first goal,'' he said.

"I was dropped after the game against Arsenal to allow one of our players to play against Bradford, his old club, but I should be starting on Saturday.

"As soon as I came on (against Bradford) the game changed a bit. The manager says he thinks I've done well since I've been here and once I hit the target I should be on my way. I think I'm doing quite well.'' He added: "My team-mates don't know my full ability as far as shooting goes.

Sometimes when I'm in shooting areas they won't pass me the ball. They see I can shoot in training but in games a couple of times I've been free and they haven't given me the ball.'' Wade and Jennings have been involved as subs for struggling Hereford recently with Jennings on the bench in the last two matches, though he did not come on in Saturday's 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing York.

Both players came on as subs against Cardiff on January 2 but generally it has been a tough battle for the two to re-establish themselves under new manager Greg Downs.

"When I first came on I went to sweeper and then when Meshach came on I went to the right side of midfield and he went to central midfield as we pushed more players forward,'' said Jennings of the Cardiff match, which they lost 2-1. Jennings came on in the 71st minute and Wade in the 80th.

Last weekend Jennings watched from the bench as Hereford blew their lead against high-riding York. "We should have won that game,'' he said.

"They had one chance, a free kick, and just happened to get the ball in the net. We've really struggled to score goals, we're just missing that ingredient up front. Against York we played the better football for the majority of the game and ended up sharing the points.'' Hereford have a small squad of 16 professionals, having just taken on a striker from a non-league club last weekend. And because they do not have a Reserve Division team, the Bermudians have found themselves short of match fitness.

"We're still struggling but it takes time,'' Jennings admitted.

KENTOINE JENNINGS -- Stuck on the subs' bench for struggling Third Division side Hereford United.