Millwall boss Gary Rowett: We can’t afford to slip up now
Gary Rowett says Millwall are “still in there fighting” after bouncing back from defeat against Swansea to reignite their play-off push, writes Yann Tear.
They brushed aside relegation-threatened Barnsley at the Den to make it 24 points from 12 games and, with five to play, are seven points off the 68 points total of two seasons ago, when the Swans pipped them to sixth place by two points.
The Millwall boss said: “We feel in with a chance, even if we are probably going to have to win most of our five remaining games and are going to need some teams to slip up.
“All teams at the top have a blip and also many of the teams above us have to play each other and will drop points, so it’s all to play for.
“I feel we’ve been relatively consistent in the last 20 games and we have reached the sort of position we set out to achieve at the beginning of the season, and we can’t afford to slip up now.
“I was particularly pleased with our performance at the weekend and it’s made our week a little bit easier. But at this stage, you have to forget about it and move on quickly because the games come along so fast around Easter.
“The best way we can get results in the remaining games is to focus on the outcome of each individual game and see where that takes us. It’s impossible to say what we are going to need, but we are still in there fighting.”
Rowett, who takes his side to Preston before a Monday visit from Hull, added: “One of the biggest factors for us has been changing draws into wins by chasing games more. We drew too many last year and we’ve learned to be more aggressive within games.
“The pressure’s on but the squad has shown great resilience – especially on a number of occasions when we’ve had a number of players missing.”
Saturday’s win saw the surprising addition of Dan McNamara on the scoresheet – not once, but twice. They were the Irish defender’s first goals for the club after 50 appearances, in all competitions.
Less surprising was the one from Benik Afobe, which took the striker’s tally to 10 in the league. Rowett said of the much-travelled 29-year-old marksman from DR Congo: “I brought him in because he’s a top striker in this division. We’ve struggled in recent seasons to find a 15-20 goals a season player and he’s not far off that.
“He’s probably got a few left and in recent games he’s been really clinical. His all-round performances have been very good. I know what he’s capable of, having managed him before and I know he’ll be looking to add to what he’s done so far.”
Photo: PA