Millwall boss had every confidence in Jed Wallace converting penalty in 1-0 win over Bristol City

Jed Wallace came off the bench to convert the penalty which earned Millwall their second Championship win of the season, and manager Gary Rowett never doubted he would convert the pressure kick against Bristol City.

Robert Atkinson conceded the spot-kick, clipping the heels of Benik Afobe as he surged through on to George Saville’s pass.

Wallace, who had missed recent matches due to illness, had only replaced Matt Smith four minutes earlier but sent Daniel Bentley the wrong way.

It was the 27-year-old’s fourth goal of the season and the Lions have not lost when he has netted.

Millwall are unbeaten in six matches but the 1-0 victory over City was only their second maximum point haul.

“I’m always confident because his penalty record is excellent,” said Rowet. “He has that little bit of calmness in those moments and changes his penalty all the time, so far he has been very, very clinical.

“It was a front three I very nearly started but big Matt scored at the weekend and deserved his chance to go again. It was a good goal. Brilliant play by Sav, he presses really well and a good quality pass to get Benik in. If we can get him running in behind defenders he is a real handful, as you saw tonight.

“He takes a touch to entice the defender in, a bit of experience, and gets the foul. Jed was luckily on the pitch to finish it off.”

Asked if Wallace was fit enough to have started the game, Rowett replied: “It’s hard to know that. Having been out for the best part of 10 days, it doesn’t take a genius to work out too much [what sidelined him] – I nearly started him. We haven’t had that impact late in games to change it and get that creative spark late. It was probably the safest option to do.”

“It was a much-needed win. We just deserved it on the balance of clearcut chances. Bristol came with a clear game plan to frustrate us first half with three centre-backs and three central midfielders. They kept breaking into good areas. Maybe second half they started to come into it more and have a little more control. That’s when we made our changes.

“We started quite brightly first 15 minutes. Our crossing wasn’t quite what we wanted or, I’m sure, big Matt Smith wanted. Benik has a chance and the keeper saves it. Then he hits the post.

“In one or two areas we looked quite nervy and forced it, which you can understand when you’ve not won in a while. To go in at 0-0 I was a little bit disappointed.

“We needed that lift, we needed that three points. It didn’t really matter how we got it. There were moments we played well and moments where we looked edgy. The three points makes that run look a little bit better.