GARY Rowett has revealed what he said at half-time that helped spark Millwall’s win at Plymouth Argyle.
The Lions were the inferior side during the first half and offered little threat going forward at Home Park.
But in the second 45 they combined their defensive solidity with sharpness in attack and took the lead just before the hour mark as Duncan Watmore found Zian Flemming with a defence-splitting pass before the Dutchman dinked it past the keeper.
The match was then wrapped up deep in stoppage time as substitute George Saville sent a curling effort beyond Plymouth’s Conor Hazard.
Rowett said he urged the players to believe in themselves more when they got into the attacking areas during the break.
He said: “The first 15-20 minutes, I think you have to ride out some of those moments of pressure. You’ve got to have some possession of the ball to give you that little feeling that you can get up the pitch and I thought we had enough of those first half to feel like if we passed it with a bit of composure, we could get into those little spaces, without creating too many obvious chances. And you’ve just got to keep doing it.
“I said to the players at half-time – ‘if we just play with a little bit more belief when we’ve got the ball, a little bit more confidence when we land in the final third…’ and we did. But equally, if I’m Plymouth I’m actually happier with the [first half] performance. They could have easily scored one of those opening moments and the game’s a very different game for us and a very different plan.
“But that’s what the Championship’s about. Sometimes teams will make it difficult for you and I think that was respect to Plymouth because they’re a good side.”