MILLWALL’S 1-0 defeat at home to Reading in late August summed up Millwall’s start to the season.
The Lions didn’t necessarily play badly, but they were out-thought and outfought by Paul Ince’s men in a game that they were lucky to only lose 1-0. The Royals became the first team to win a Championship game The Den in 2022-23, and only two sides have managed to accomplish that feat since then.
The improvement since that clash in the early on in the campaign is clear. Gary Rowett’s side are now challenging at the top end of the division and are able to grind out results in difficult games. Reading failed to register a single shot on target at the Select Car Leasing Stadium over the weekend, highlighting how the visitors managed to dominate the flow of the match.
As a result, there has been a clear linear improvement in Millwall’s performances, especially considering what happened in the reverse fixture in South London just over six months ago. Rowett believes that it can certainly work in his side’s favour, adding that it sets them up to tackle their upcoming home games before the international break.
“We are what we are – we’re very defensively strong and very resilient,” he said after Saturday’s win.
“We’re very tough to play against when we are 1-0 up and you get into those latter stages and need to break us down.
“There are still lots of things we can improve on. We need to be a little more flexible with the ball and show a little more composure with the ball.
“But at this stage of the season it’s hard to be critical of the players for sometimes playing a little bit safer, particularly when you are 1-0 up. When you go 1-0 up early it feels like you’re hanging on to something as a player and that you’ve got something to lose now. There’s a strange psychology and it’s hard to change it.
“We haven’t had that many clean sheets away from home, so I view today as a good all-round performance where we take three points and move on.
“We’ve got two home games, which is why this was really important. I always feel this is the start to a week, rather than the end of a week. The start of three games before the international break. I always knew if we could get a result here that would take us nicely into the two home games.
“Now it’s up to us to perform on Tuesday night and then Saturday. They are two different types of games but we’re at home and if we want to be a team that finishes in the top six then you’re going to have to go and take some points.”
Photo: Millwall FC