MILLWALL’S Gary Rowett praised Jake Cooper’s performance despite the defender’s late own goal against Derby and the Lions boss said he was “incredibly proud” of his side in their 2-1 win at Pride Park.
Jed Wallace and Tyler Burey scored in the first half before Cooper sliced a cross past Bartosz Bialkowski with two minutes left.
Wayne Rooney’s side had only lost twice at home all season and had scored five goals after the 88th minute in league games this campaign, but the Lions prevented a late comeback to win their third game in a row.
“We started the game really well, that was our intention,” Rowett told Millwall’s Recast. “I thought the front three caused them lots of problems on the turnover early on. We pressed really well.
“First half we were fairly comfortable, get our two goals and could have had a couple more. Mason [Bennett] has a really good chance, Tyler probably has a better chance than the one he scores.
“They had one or two moments. They had a lot of the ball, they’re a good side in possession, they’d only lost two games here all season.
“If I’m being honest, second half we showed a different side to our game, we showed we’re prepared to suffer as a team, we’re prepared to work hard for each other.
“We make a mistake at the end but what I would say is Coops defended the box fantastically well all game. It was probably the one moment we looked least in danger we concede.
“I thought we looked really comfortable at that point, it just made it a nervy last five or six minutes. Derby have scored so many late goals as well. The fans in the stadium get a little bit excited and it looks like maybe they nick something.
“But I thought over all it was a performance that showed different sides to our game. It also showed at the end having to put the likes of Zak [Lovelace] on that we haven’t got those options to be able to turn the game in an aggressive way.
“We’re just going to have to play like that at times until we get bodies back. It was a really big performance from the players and I’m incredibly proud of our efforts tonight.”
Image: Millwall FC