‘It’s certainly a lesson’ – Millwall boss Alex Neil takes blame for heavy defeat at Plymouth

Alex Neil took full responsibility after Millwall were thrashed 5-1 by struggling Plymouth Argyle.

Both the Lions and Argyle – who started the night bottom of the Championship – came into Wednesday night’s match off the back of big wins in the FA Cup.

But Millwall were two goals down after just eight minutes after Joe Bryan put through his own net and Ryan Hardie converted a penalty given against Casper De Norre.

It got worse after the break, too, as Mustapha Bundu added a third before Hardie was gifted his second goal of the night. Bryan bagged a consolation before Nikola Katic compounded the Lions’ misery by stabbing home following a goalmouth scramble.

The result saw Millwall’s four-match winning streak come to a spectacular end – and Neil took the blame after the match.

Speaking to Millwall TV+, Neil said: “It became a bit of a nightmare, let’s be honest.

“I think from the get-go, we didn’t compete well enough.

“The first goal, we give them a helping hand and the ball ends up in the back of our net. The penalty, I didn’t think it was a penalty. It was very harsh. Then we find ourselves 2-0 down really early in the game and Plymouth, to be fair, hadn’t really had to do much to get there.

“I thought at that point we then kept the ball in front of Plymouth and that’s probably my fault; I need to look at that. I didn’t think we played like a Millwall team. We played in front of them and played passively.

“The third goal, we lose the first goal and the striker swivels in the box and puts it in the corner. The fourth goal is a mistake.

“We’re off a really good run, four wins on the bounce, but tonight couldn’t have gone much worse.

“For me it’s certainly a lesson in terms of the Leeds game, it was more of a tactical game. Tonight was about a fight and a battle and I probably hadn’t prepped us for that as much.

“I felt we were going to come and dominate the ball. But we didn’t and when we did we weren’t very good, which played into their hands.”

PICTURES: BRIAN TONKS