Jake Cooper: Millwall winner at Sheffield United was easily the best goal I’ve ever scored

Jake Cooper reckons his late winner at Sheffield United on Tuesday was the best goal of his career.

The Millwall centre-back lashed home from distance to secure back-to-back away Championship wins.

“It’s the best goal I’ve ever scored,” Cooper told the South London Press. “That was big.

“Me and Hutch [Shaun Hutchinson] were saying to Jed the other day that we’d never scored a goal with more than one touch. Now I have.

“Jed moans if I shoot because he says my chances of scoring are normally low. But there was no doubt I was going to go for it. I didn’t know straight off that it was going in. I didn’t look at the goal – I didn’t know where the goal was – I just hit it.”

Cooper has already doubled his tally from the 2020-21 campaign where he netted just once.

“I’ve scored some nice ones inside the box in my career and I always aim to get a goal every five to 10 games,” he said. “Last season wasn’t so good but I’ve already got two late winning goals this season – that shows my character.

“I certainly feel confident in front of goal. I had five shots on Saturday and another three on Tuesday night. I feel like the chances are there for me. Hopefully I can chip in with a good total.”

Cooper admits he was “desperate” to jump in the away end to celebrate at Bramall Lane but did not want to move a step closer to a suspension.

“I’d just had an email from the club, almost like a receipt, saying I was being charged £10 from my wages for my third booking of the season,” said the former Reading youngster. “That happened on Saturday, so it was fresh in my mind.

“If you get five before the cut-off it is a one-game ban. I’ve never had one for that. It’s just something I’ve always kept an eye on, especially when I was on that mad run of not missing any matches.

“A win like that makes the whole trip worth it. We were away from our families from Monday morning until the early hours of Wednesday. We’ve won three out of our last four to put the draws that were maybe a bit negative behind us. It shows how quickly you can climb up the table.”