Resting players was not a key concern for Lions boss – as he discusses eight changes made for Boreham Wood FA Cup tie

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Gary Rowett made eight changes for Millwall’s FA Cup win – but has revealed that resting players was not a key concern.

The likes of Jed Wallace, Bart Bialkowski, Mahlon Romeo and Mason Bennett were all unused subs as the South Londoners progressed in the competition with a 2-0 victory at Boreham Wood.

But Rowett reckons the recent disappointing display against Coventry City shows that his team perform better when they are not inactive.

That 2-1 reverse to the Sky Blues came after the Lions’ Christmas games were postponed due to eight of the squad testing positive for Covid-19.

“We didn’t really pick a team [at Boreham Wood] based around giving people a break,” said Rowett. “It was important we put a strong team out there.

“It was important not to go into the Bournemouth game with the vast majority of the team having 10 days without a game, because we saw that two weeks without a game didn’t help us against Coventry.

“We are a better team when we get a little bit of rhythm from playing games regularly. One or two had a little bit of a breather and one or two were picked on the basis that I wanted to see how some young players fared in the game.

“But even with eight changes – which sounds quite severe – I felt like we picked a strong side.

“A break this season, for anyone at any time, they have got to use that energy they will have in the next game.”