Leeds boss Farke: Millwall have very good chance of Championship play-off finish

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke reckons Millwall have a “very good chance” of finishing in the Championship play-offs.

Japhet Tanganga’s first goal of the season sealed a fourth consecutive 1-0 win for Neil Harris’ Lions and ended the Yorkshire outfit’s eight-match unbeaten run in the process.

Millwall’s victory on Wednesday lifts them to fifth in the table.

“Firstly you have to say congratulations to Millwall for excellent defending and excellent efficiency,” said Farke.

“They were more effective than us in using their chances and we have to accept the loss. In football you have to make sure you are efficient and you use your chances, with the chances they had they were better than us today. You have to accept it and say congratulations to Neil and his team.

Leeds dominated possession with 75 per cent of the ball and had 14 shots but were unable to break through a Millwall side that has not conceded a goal in more than six hours.

Despite this, Farke was satisfied with his side’s performance.

“Football can sometimes be the most unfair sport in the world,” said the German.

“In each and every sport there are so many points to play for, if it’s basketball or something like that it’s always the side that is dominating that wins. But in football, one goal is quite often decisive and even a team that more or less concentrates on defending gets one chance and they use that chance they can win a game even if the other team is so much on the front foot. This is what happened today.

“I’m not annoyed at all about our performance. We were excellent in the first half and it’s a tough place to go. We were all over them but cutting edge in the first half was missing. We had so many good shooting chances, so many dangerous crosses and corners but we didn’t have the quality to bring the ball over the line in those situations. I was sure if we played on like this there would be more chances in the second half, if we didn’t concede and go behind.”

The Leeds chief was asked if he thought the Lions could be top-six contenders.

He said. “They are delivering consistency. They have conceded just one goal in their last six games. They can defend and they have unbelievable strength on set-pieces. They are dangerous on the counter-attack.

“Yes, they haven’t played us off the park today – but you have to say their efficiency is crucial. They did exactly the right thing to see the game out, they know when they need to break the rhythm up. They have a really experienced coach who knows every square metre of the grass here, a very experienced coach in this league, and some very good people. They have a very good chance to finish in the top six.”