Gary Rowett happy at Millwall’s fast starts – and praises application of his players

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Gary Rowett has been pleased with Millwall’s fast start to Den matches – and has praised his squad’s efforts during his opening weeks in the Den hotseat.

The Lions were 2-1 winners in Saturday’s South London derby against Charlton as Matt Smith headed home Jed Wallace’s corner in the first minute of second half stoppage time.

Millwall came out of the blocks explosively with Shaun Hutchinson heading them in front inside the opening 10 minutes.

Rowett is the first Lions boss since Dennis Wise to win his first two home league games.

“It’s always part of every plan to start well on the front foot and we have had a habit of doing that really well in the two home games,” he told Millwall Player. “They have been electric starts from the team. We have moved the ball really, really well.

“It was a slightly different formation [on Saturday] and slightly more difficult to play into that 10 position and out wide, so we ended up having to switch off the two frontmen and we did that really well.

“What we have tried to do is come in and not change too much off the pitch and tried to change little things on the pitch. What Neil [Harris] built is fantastic. It is just little tweaks to allow us to make more passes and be a bit more flexible in the way we play.

“It is not necessarily about creating chances, more when we are under the cosh or leading in games – we need a little more composure and control to see games out comfortably.

“The players’ application has been absolutely fantastic.

“We want to be 100 miles per hour all the time, but can we show a little bit more composure and decision making? Making better decisions on the ball, not try to force everything forward.

“The first half at Reading is the only half I have been disappointed with, everything else they have done really well.”

PICTURE BY PAUL EDWARDS