Millwall boss slams defensive display as QPR fight back to take maximum points in west London

Millwall manager Gary Rowett slammed his side’s defensive display, admitting that his side should have been out of sight before falling to a late 3-2 defeat at QPR.

The Lions had a 2-0 lead at the break through Jed Wallace and Mason Bennett, but QPR were level going into the final third of the second half through Charlie Austin and Stefan Johansen. Jordy De Wijs’ late header completed a dramatic turnaround.

It was a frustrating night for Millwall, with their second-half performance ruining a strong first-half showing to leave them pointless in W12.

Rowett said: “[I’m] disappointed with our defending in the second half certainly. I thought in the first half we were excellent – after the first five-10 minutes we got to grips with QPR and looked very, very good. We moved the ball probably as well as we’ve moved it for quite a while.

“We had some very good chances, we took two of them. It was a great pass from Woodsy to put Jed in and it’s a great finish. I think Woodsy puts Mason in and he should score the second. He doesn’t, but he then makes amends for it quite quickly after by scoring the second, so we probably could have gone in three goals up with the chances we had. Even though QPR looked really bright, I don’t think there were many clear-cut chances that they had.

“We spoke second half clearly about maintaining that intensity. I thought for recent games, it was probably one of the most intense games in terms of the energy levels required. It was actually quite a quick-paced game, which was quite nice to see but it means that you have to work a lot harder to maintain it.

“For us to concede so early in the second half when we knew the importance of it, I thought was a really poor goal. Charlie Austin just gets in front of us – it’s quite a long way out and for him to score with one ball and one header, for me it’s really, really disappointing.

“We had a chance just before that to go 3-0 up which we should have taken. We then have a chance to go 3-1 up and we don’t. When you miss chances you’re always susceptible at the other end.

“The second goal was equally as poor, and then the third goal we let our man free on a set-piece and we concede again.

“We’ve had three moments in the game where we didn’t do our jobs and they’ve punished us. It’s disappointing.

Millwall missed chances to extend their lead, most notably through Shaun Hutchinson, who missed a glorious chance to put the Lions 3-0 up just minutes before Austin netted to put QPR back in the game.

Rowett added: “I think the first goal changes the game. If you’re two-nil up and you have a glorious chance early in the second half to make it 3-0, I think that takes the game away from QPR. But you don’t take it and then they score quite quickly afterwards.

“As we know, 2-0 sounds like a great scoreline but as soon as QPR score it makes it 2-1 and it gives them a real lift.

“I felt as though in the first half we were working really, really hard to get into the areas we got into. Then in the second half we just seemed to have five or 10-minute spells where we had two or three players who just seemed to struggle maintaining that intensity. You’re then looking at your bench to make some of those changes and it’s quite hard at the moment to make changes to swing the game back in your favour.

“It’s a combination really of not being able to maintain that energy level and making three really poor mistakes. We’ve made mistakes and they’ve punished us three times, so for that we’ve probably got what we deserved in the end.”