MILLWALL manager Gary Rowett said Danny McNamara was “outstanding” on his league debut in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
McNamara, 22, kept his place in the team after his senior Lions debut against Boreham Wood in the FA Cup last Saturday.
It meant Mahlon Romeo was on the bench, with McNamara playing right wing-back against the Cherries.
Rowett was asked why he picked McNamara over the more established Romeo.
“When you look at our run of form, it’s not been fantastic. We’ve got a young player who’s played really, really well in Scotland,” Rowett said.
“We wanted to bring him back to genuinely challenge Mahlon for the shirt. Mahlon’s been really good but we’ve had no real challenge there.
“Ryan Leonard has played there, Jiri Skalak has played there to help out. But we haven’t had a natural right-back, right wing-back to challenge him.
“I thought he did well enough against Boreham Wood and showed me enough to… I felt the easy thing to do would have been to take him out of the side tonight.
“I just thought he’s got the temperament, he’s got the character, he’s got the athleticism, and he’s shown a lot of composure tonight.
“To come to a place like Bournemouth, I felt this would be a big evening for him because if you’re going to come up short you’re going to come up short at a place like this with a lot of power and pace in forward areas.
“But I thought he was outstanding, really, really outstanding.
“It shows what a good loan can do for a young player. He’s full of confidence.
“We’ve got two very good right wing-backs in our club and that’s what we want. We want that competition.
“With so many games coming up we need players to push each other.”
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