‘Definite relief’ – Joe Edwards on first home win as Millwall head coach as Lions climb away from bottom three

Joe Edwards admitted that he was relieved to earn his first home win as Millwall head coach as his side beat QPR 2-0 at the Den on Boxing Day.

A first-half strike from Tom Bradshaw and a late Murray Wallace effort secured the victory for Edwards’ side, with the former Chelsea coach ending a seven-game winless run in the process.

Millwall are now six points clear of fellow strugglers QPR, who occupy the final place in the Championship relegation zone.

 “Definite relief,” said Edwards as he reflected on the game. “Relief at the end of the run, relief when you see there is going to be that much added time [10 minutes] after the way the last home game went [against Huddersfield].

“I’ve got a lot of belief in this team but when you’re in a difficult run you’ve just got to dig in and keep going – I thought that was what the performance showed today.

“These London derbies, you’ve got two teams that are in a difficult position and both know how big the game is and how big the points would be. It creates a bit of tension around the game so you’re not always going to get free-flowing attractive games.

“But we showed enough quality in spells to show signs of where we want to head, but ultimately that was about our spirit today. We were really difficult to play against, QPR played some nice football without ever really hurting us too much.

“Those basics are what we want to be about before we talk about playing any football, they need to be there.”

Millwall have now kept back-to-back clean sheets following a 0-0 draw at Stoke in their previous outing, and the only goal they have conceded in their last three games was an injury-time penalty from Huddersfield’s Delano Burgzog in their previous home outing.

Edwards, who has previously been keen to see his side improve in possession, was delighted with his team’s defensive display against QPR.

“I liked us all across the pitch defensively today,” he said.

“What Millwall have been renowned for in the past with the type of players we’ve had, like Ryan Leonard, Jake Cooper, Murray Wallace and Shaun Hutchinson, are strong defenders renowned for defending the box well and being a strong set-piece team.

“QPR came here and wanted to build up from the back at every opportunity and we really went after them.

“When you’ve got George Honeyman and Duncan Watmore jumping up to press it puts a stress on the [Millwall] backline and you saw players like Wes Harding and Ryan Leonard jumping all the way into the QPR half to follow players.

“That’s a big physical demand but I think if you want to put in performances like this at the Den, and get some energy from the crowd, the team has to do it collectively.

“We want more quality in the performance, we want more football, but before we can worry about that we need to make sure, particularly with the run we’ve been on, that’s our foundation.”

MAIN PICTURE: BRIAN TONKS