Jed Wallace on Millwall attackers needing to take on more responsibility + hails character of Jon Dadi Bodvarsson

BY DANIEL MARSH

Jed Wallace has called on Millwall’s attacking players to take “a little bit more responsibility” to ensure the Lions can turn their recent run of stalemates into wins.

Wallace found the net with a sublime 25-yard free-kick just before the break, but he couldn’t find a second as time ticked away in SE16 after being played in well by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.

Despite having further chances to seal the win, the Lions were forced to settle for their fourth draw in a row and their seventh of the season – more than any other team in the Championship.

“The attacking players need to take a little bit more responsibility between us to take those key moments,” said Wallace.

“Me, Lenny, Thommo and Jon-Dadi in the last two games have all had big moments. It’s down to us to take more responsibility – especially myself – and to be more clinical. Ultimately, it’s four games unbeaten but it’s hard to translate sometimes because you think you’d be better off losing 3-0 Saturday and then winning 1-0 [against Reading].

“I always put loads of pressure on myself, probably too much to be honest! But you can’t get away from the fact that we’ve got Connor, Benno, Ken – who’s going to be massive for us – and Bradders out injured, which is four out of our six or seven attackers, so that is difficult.

“On a positive side, I thought Troy was brilliant. I think you can see the footballing brain he has and the quality he brings. He’s only 18 and he’s playing that well already – he’s only going to get better. Troy’s someone that within 15 minutes of training with him, I knew the quality and intelligence he has. I’m looking forward to playing with him more.”

Despite the Lions mounting injury list, Wallace talked up the strength of character of the squad, including players who have come into the team recently after not playing as much as they’d perhaps have liked.

He also praised Icelandic striker Jon-Dadi Bodvarsson, who replaced Parrott for the games final 30 minutes after a tough cameo appearance at the weekend.

“It’s little things, like Jon come on Saturday and it was difficult for him – he missed a big chance. I thought he came on [against Reading] for 20 minutes and he was really positive. He set me up, I probably should have scored, he had a good shot himself and I thought he played really well. That’s the strength of character we need. Football isn’t easy sometimes and people can lose sight of that. When you miss a big chance, you go home and you run it over in your head for four or five days. That is the good thing with this season, there’s so many games that we can’t rest on anything.

“Everyone’s spoken about the group we’ve got, probably the manager more than anyone else. I think it’s a credit to people like Thommo and Willo who have come into the team the last two games after not playing for a while and they’ve both been outstanding. That’s what we need – we need people coming in and playing well when they’ve not been playing. People are going to be disappointed to not be playing every game, but ultimately this season there’s so many games and we need everyone.

“I said it in the week – I think whichever team keeps their best players fit will probably be towards the top end of the table, so hopefully we can do that. We’re finding it harder at the moment in the squad number wise because we’re a bit depleted, but if we can hang in around that top ten or twelve going into the new year and get people back fit then we’ll hopefully be in and around the play-offs.”

Pictures: Keith Gillard