Millwall boss Gary Rowett on 0-0 draw – as they fail to break down gritty 10-man Hull City

Millwall manager Gary Rowett felt that Hull City deserved some credit for denying them a Championship win – but also that Oscar Estupinan’s red card deprived them of extra space.

The Lions were largely toothless against a Hull side that went down to 10 men in the 37th minute. Estupinan was shown a straight red card for a high foot on Charlie Cresswell.

But Millwall struggled to make their advantage count as they struggled to find any spark to their play.

City were hardly ambitious when they did have possession but also had help for much of the second period as they were not pressed heavily enough in possession.

Scott Malone’s 84th minute strike was tipped over the bar by Hull keeper Nathan Baxter but their new boss Liam Rosenior will have been impressed by the way they stood up to the hosts’ aerial test.

Tom Bradshaw did put the ball in the back of the net from Scott Malone’s cross but the frontman was adjudged to be offside.

It is the third match in a row that Millwall have been unable to score.

Rowett said: “When they have a man sent off the game is pretty even up to that point and there is a little space on the pitch. In my opinion it [Estupinan’s challenge] is reckless even though he hasn’t meant to do it – he catches Cressy in the face and he needed a lot of stitches at half-time.

“After that you just know what is going to happen – that they are going to drop in, they are going to test our patience and make it hard for us to play through them. They did. They defended brilliantly. Any ball that came into the box they managed to get their head on it whereas you’d expect sometimes for us to create more of a threat with the amount of balls in the box we had – 24 shots and 10 corners.

“We were pretty much dominant, as you’d expect, with those statistics but you’ve got to go and put one in the net. The one we did I think was just offside.

“We ended up a little bit edgy, the whole stadium ended up a little bit edgy.

“As much as we feel it is an opportunity missed, we’re not going to win every home game – the Championship doesn’t work like that, you have little spells where things don’t quite go how you want them to with the relevant quality.”

Asked what he felt Millwall should have done better, Rowett replied: “Just move the ball a little bit quicker and more precisely. Even just a little pass that goes five yards behind someone, they have to go and get it and it allows them to get into their shape.

“We started to get our full-backs higher up the pitch later in the game, particularly Scottie Malone’s side. It’s just down to that last little bit of quality. You can’t swing a leg for them, choose the right shot or make the run. You hope one of the players instinctively – in very, very little space – finds that bit of quality.

“We got into good areas around the edge of the box and you hope someone finds a shot that either gets a deflection or finds its way into the net because you are not going to get much space to play into pockets and around them. It was difficult to do that.

“Frustrating afternoon but also you have to hand a lot of credit to Hull who defended for their lives for the new manager and went away with a clean sheet.”