WHILE Tom Bradshaw may be taken the spotlight in Millwall’s 3-0 win against Watford, manager Gary Rowett was keen to highlight the importance of his defensive players at both ends of the pitch.
Danny McNamara and the returning Scott Malone were able to shut out the Hornets’ wide players, while Shaun Hutchinson made the most tackles and won the most duels of anyone on the pitch.
The latter’s centre-back partner, Jake Cooper, provided an assist for Bradshaw’s third goal, flicking on a free-kick into the path of the 30-year-old striker, who cooly fired past Daniel Bachmann.
“In the attacking end, Coops gets his head on so many things,” Rowett said after the game.
“He’s our main threat in terms of that first touch, that first contact. He keeps it alive, he works very hard at doing that in dangerous areas and making teams defend. He’s done that brilliantly well.
“If I’m being honest, since we went to a [back] four, your worry is that there’s one less defender, are we going to concede more chances? Are we going to have more space with us?
“I think Hutchy coming back into the team with Coops and also whoever has played fullback, Danny, Muzza [Wallace], Scotty tonight, they’ve benefited from that tight, compact unit.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard, but in particular Coops and Hutchy as a pairing have been outstanding for the four games since we’ve gone to a [back] four. That’s crucial, because if all of a sudden you go to a four, if we’re conceding a lot of chances and there’s lots of space, then I’m not going to be quite so enthused with it. There’s a nice balance to it at the moment, and Coops and Hutchy have been a big part of that.”
Malone wasn’t even named on the bench for Millwall’s previous three games, but he ended up coming straight back into the starting lineup after Wallace injured his groin in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Bristol City. Rowett hopes that other players on the fringes of the first-team squad, such as Charlie Cresswell, will be feeling confident that they can return to the squad in the coming weeks.
“I think it’s a good lesson for a lot of the players,” he explained
“Young Cressy is facing that at the moment were it’s so difficult for him not being in the side, not being in the squad. It’s only because I don’t want a centre-half on the bench, I’d rather take a bit of a gamble on the substitution, we needed them tonight.
“But like he will see and Scotty felt it, when you’re out of the squad and it’s a horrible, horrible, feeling. It’s not a nice feeling as a manager to leave a player out of the squad who work so hard during the week, but you’re as likely to come out of the squad and straight into the team. I think Cressy will be exactly the same, it’s one injury to a centre-back and the likelihood is he will go straight into the team.
“They’ve got to stay ready, they’ve got to make sure they train well, and the likes of Scotty coming in tonight i thought was absolutely brilliant. I thought he was excellent and to cramp up, now he knows how I felt in the marathon!
“The difference is, clearly, that I cramped up after about four hours and he cramped up after about 88 minutes, which was pretty pathetic,” he chuckled.
Photo: Millwall FC