Gary Rowett reveals the key to Millwall victories in the Championship

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Gary Rowett reckons Millwall have to play well as a unit to chalk up Championship wins – and don’t have a plethora of individual game-changers in their ranks to get them out of jail.

The Lions are unbeaten in five matches and have lost just once since Rowett succeeded Neil Harris in the Den hotseat in late October.

Millwall head to fourth-placed Bristol City tomorrow night looked to extend their undefeated away sequence to three matches.

Rowett said: “I always knew going into Birmingham away, Forest home, Bristol away and Derby away that you’ve got three really tough away games – when our away form hadn’t been great previously – and a really tough home game against a side [Forest] who are really good away from home.

“I always felt these four games were going to be a really difficult batch of four. But what I’d say is that we’ve performed really well so far. We could easily have won both the games and Bristol are another part of that test.

“They are a good side. Lee Johnson has done a really good job – he’s had that continuity and consistency to build a side that he likes.

“They’ve got a lot of energy. They are similar to us in that they play with a lot of energy and honesty, but they’ve also got some good quality players in there as well.

“I was speaking to one of the lads in the week and they said: ‘Teams have got to play really well to beat us but, because of the type of team we are, we have to be at the top of our game to win a match’. That’s the challenge – we haven’t got three or four individuals just to get us out of a poor performance.

“We have to play as a collective so well to win the game – that is our test and we’ve done that a few times.”

PICTURE BY KEITH GILLARD