Millwall boss makes interesting comment on Championship play-off chasers – and stats back him up

Millwall manager Gary Rowett has talked about most of the clubs chasing the Championship play-off places enduring similar results.

The Lions paid the price for not converting a number of big chances in Monday’s 1-0 defeat at Hull City.

Now they face a Preston North End side who are just outside the top-six but have collected 15 points from a possible 18.

Millwall, in fifth, have banked eight points over the same period – the same as fourth-placed Middlesbrough and one more point than Blackburn, in sixth.

Norwich (six points) and Coventry City (seventh) are also in the chasing pack.

“If you hone in on the facts then we have not taken the points we want in the last four games and not scored the goals we want in the last four games then it looks, on the surface, to be pretty disappointing,” Rowett told the South London Press.

“From a managerial point of view, I look at it objectively as well – because I have to. If I start getting involved in the emotions of everything then it is not the right thing to do.

“If I look objectively then I look at a team that has played with a decent amount of confidence and we’ve had something like 68 shots in the last four games. We’ve been on top in a large majority of the last four games and we’ve created big chances in them. But the bit missing has been that last little bit – which has been the bit which shapes most peoples’ feeling on it.

“I think we’ve played well and we’ve moved the ball with confidence. I didn’t see a team that were edgy, concerned or nervous. I saw a team that were playing with a bit of freedom and creating good opportunities. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve in football.

“We played games like Cardiff and Stoke where both games felt brilliant afterwards but the reality is we didn’t play well. In these games we have played well and got nothing out of them.

“That’s life and that’s football.

“We’ve got two home games coming up and two away games against teams in the bottom three, who I know will be scrapping for their lives. It’s down to us still. It’s down to us to put those performances in. But it’s this stage of the season – if I look at most of the teams around us, apart from Preston, I think everyone has won one game out of five. It’s exactly the same scenario. It is which team handles it the best is going to be the team which nicks one of those play-off places.”