‘Complete performance’ – Gary Rowett delivers verdict after Millwall bounce back from Leeds defeat with win over Rotherham

BY ALEX GRACE

Gary Rowett was pleased with his side’s performance after they beat Rotherham United 3-0 at The Den on Wednesday evening. 

The Lions claimed their third win of the season thanks to goals from Ryan Longman, Zian Flemming and Tom Bradshaw as they eased past a blunt Millers side that offered very little threat.

“The players have worked hard today,” said Rowett. 

“It’s never easy at the weekend when you play a game and lose 3-0 in a game that I didn’t think we deserved to lose 3-0, but you still have to come out fighting and show some spirit. 

“What I liked today was we showed a bit of spirit, we had a bit of fight, and we actually showed a bit of quality, too.

“I thought as a complete performance, it was up there with many of the better games I’ve had since I’ve been here. 

“We moved the ball well, we maintained attacks, kept putting them under pressure without just putting the ball in the box or just getting two or three corners – I felt we created quite a lot tonight.”

Millwall’s creativity has been the subject of heavy criticism so far this season, but so has their ability to take chances. They ranked as the lowest scorers in the league before the visit of the Millers, but the Lions boss was pleased with the finishing on show from his team on Wednesday night. 

 Flemming and Bradshaw have both had slow starts to the campaign, with the former being linked with moves away from the club all summer. Rowett was delighted to see his key men from last season up and running for the current campaign.

 “Zian and Bradders – it’s nice for them both to get on the score sheet,” the former Stoke boss added.

“I thought both of them were excellent tonight for different reasons and in different ways.

“Obviously to get the goals, they were the main protagonists last season in terms of goals, so it was nice to get both of them off the mark.”

The win has taken Millwall from 18th to 11th in the Championship table – just two points outside the top six. It remains early in the season and the Millwall chief says he and his team will not be getting carried away. 

 “I spoke about it in the dressing room,” he said.

“It’s one game, we aren’t getting carried away.

“In some ways, if I take out the Norwich and Leeds games of games where the opposition have got loads of quality and can do that to any team. All the other games have been fairly even and that’s where we’ve been in the Championship for a while.

“We’ve normally come out on top in a lot more of those even contests than what we’ve ended up losing.

“We responded, but we responded in a way where we didn’t allow Rotherham to really create anything or put us under pressure – that’s the bit I like the most about the performance tonight. 

“We passed the ball, we were patient, we still looked to go in behind and attack quickly, but we kept it at the right times and that made it very hard for Rotherham to build anything against us.

“I felt Casper [de Noore] was excellent in that respect, just kept receiving the ball and getting into good positions. I thought he was outstanding tonight.”