Millwall boss Rowett not prepared to criticise his players as Championship winning streak ended at Huddersfield

BY ALEX GRACE

Gary Rowett did not want to criticise his Millwall side after their 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield this afternoon.

The defeat at the John Smith’s Stadium ended the Lions’ four-match winning run and saw them fall out of the Championship’s top six. Yuta Nakayama’s effort was the difference in the contest as the Terriers moved off the bottom of the Championship table.

“If you look at the game, they’re fighting for their lives,” said Millwall boss Rowett.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game.

“We’ve had four wins on the bounce and, as a manager, you always have that little bit of concern in the back of your mind that these are the types of games where maybe your players won’t quite do things with the same mentality. Not by choice but just sometimes there’s something where you’re not having to fight as hard when you did when you hadn’t won those four games.

“Huddersfield dropped in, they got their shape well, they’ve got good pace in Sorba Thomas and [Duane] Holmes out wide. They kept breaking on us in quite dangerous positions. They had quite a number of set-pieces in the first half.”

Millwall were under serious pressure for much of the first half, their hosts were dominant in possession and in attacking moments as the Lions failed to register a single shot until the 44th minute. Even when it arrived, it was one of the most simple shots for Town keeper Alex Nicholls to catch.

“The first goal looked like, if it was coming, it was going to be theirs,” said Rowett. “They did get a bit of fortune with it, it looked to me as a clear cross and he sort of balloons it over in the far corner. It’s those types of moments sometimes where you get a little break and that little bit of luck, it gives you something to hang on to. They worked incredibly hard to do that.”

Rowett was disappointed that his side failed to show the same competitive nature that they have shown in their recent winning run.

“First half we didn’t compete in the same way that we have recently. We lost too many duels, we lost too many battles. They just had a little bit of extra zip about the way they ran, chased and wanted to keep a clean sheet.

“Second half, we were better. We made some attacking changes. We must’ve had about 30 chances to put balls into good areas today and we didn’t do it. Crosses keep going into the keeper’s hands, we went too direct in the last 10 minutes, we just kept putting it into the keeper’s hands again.

“It was just that little moment when you’re expecting a little bit more in the attacking third from your team. It was one of those games where we couldn’t quite make it happen today.

“You have to accept that. I could be really greedy and have a go at the players for not doing it properly. They tried, we just haven’t performed in the same way that we have in the last five games.”