Derby County manager Lampard: I’ve played in a lot more hostile grounds than The Den

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Frank Lampard reckoned his Derby County side could only blame themselves for their 2-1 defeat at Millwall – and didn’t feel The Den atmosphere was a factor.

The Rams boss suffered a second Championship defeat as Lee Gregory and a deflected Shaun Williams effort put the Lions 2-0 ahead.

David Nugent halved the deficit after the restart.

“The atmosphere here is hostile,” said Lampard. “They do support the team. But it is not a full stadium. I’ve played in a lot more hostile stadiums, filled to the rafters and really aggressive. It is certainly not an excuse.

“We know they [Millwall] are effective in what they do. But we didn’t do enough in terms of dealing with balls into the box. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb, we tried to and deserved to. We had a goal given offside when he [Martyn Waghorn] is level.

“The atmosphere in this stadium, when it is with the home team, is massive. But it can quickly go against them, as it did in the last 20 minutes.

“We gave Millwall the opportunity to sit back in lines. To break those lines you need to take risks with forward passes. We did that [later on] and you see it in the performance.”

Asked about Williams’ goal, he said: “It wasn’t a great shot, it was going 20 yards wide. It was a freak.”

IMAGE BY KEITH GILLARD