Jed Wallace: Millwall must win next two matches to stay in the play-off mix

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Jed Wallace reckons Millwall have to win tonight’s South London derby to keep their Championship play-off dreams alive.

The Lions head to Charlton still searching for their first victory since the campaign restarted in June.

Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Swansea at The Den dropped Gary Rowett’s side to 11th in the table – five points behind sixth-placed Cardiff City.

Asked if Millwall had to take three points at The Valley, Wallace said: “Oh, 100 per cent. For me the next two are must-win. If you’re talking about getting in the play-offs, Charlton and Middlesbrough are must-wins.

“Charlton would be a must-win regardless, because Millwall fans demand it. But the next two, regardless, are must-win games because then, all of a sudden, you look and see that we’ve got eight points from 12 – it’s a decent return.

“I think we’re going to have to win the next two games to have any chance of getting in the play-offs.”

Millwall are undefeated in their last 11 meetings with the SE7 outfit.

Lions boss Rowett still believes that a top-six finish is achievable.

“I don’t think we’re out of anything yet,” he said. “We’re five points behind and regardless of what happens [tonight] if that five-point gap remains or it closes then we’re still in the race.

“The Barnsley performance was pretty good, we were fairly solid without the end bit. The Swansea game was better again and we should have won the game. You have to turn those into a win, no matter how you do it.

“Every game is a must-win game – because we don’t know what the other teams have done. If we don’t win and a Cardiff or a Derby win their next game then all of a sudden we’re going to be seven or eight points out of it, without many games left.

“At that point it is going to be incredibly difficult. We need to find a win from somewhere which keeps us in the mix.

“But also the players need to be given credit that with six games to go we’re still in there with a shout of fighting for the top-six positions amongst a lot of big clubs who have spent a lot of money – and probably overspent a lot of money than what they should have done.”

Mason Bennett opened his goal account for the Lions in midweek but was forced off at half-time after taking a bang to his hip.

Rowett said: “It stiffened up and limited his movement a little bit – you could see that in the last seven or eight minutes of the half.

“Mase did really well to get through but wasn’t quite fully mobile. He’s going to be a doubt for Friday.

“Realistically we’ll have to make some changes but it is hard. You might have players who haven’t played since the lockdown period and you want to make changes to create more energy – but they have less because they haven’t played and are not as match fit.”