‘Majorly disappointed’ – Millwall boss Neil Harris laments early goal in Luton defeat
Neil Harris was unhappy with the manner of Luton Town’s winning goal as Millwall were beaten 1-0 at The Den.
Central defender Teden Mengi finessed a fine first-time strike from outside the box beyond Lukas Jensen after the visitors responded to a previous save from the Danish stopper.
The Lions were unable to get back onto level terms despite going close through Macaulay Langstaff and Shaun Hutchinson late in the second half.
And while Harris felt his team were better than Luton, he wasn’t completely satisfied with how players defended their goal for Mengi’s strike.
“We had 27 touches in the opponent’s penalty area,” Harris said post-match.
“Where do I start? Lots of positives: I thought we were the better team and the press was really good. The application and desire was there. There was some real quality in our play, we went direct but also played with quality around the outside and through the thirds.
“What was missing was the final end product, wasn’t it? That’s the difference, unfortunately, at all levels of football. It was the difference today.
“I was slightly disappointed with the manner of the goal. I thought we could have done more to keep the ball out of the net for the goal today.”
Pressed further on giving away another early goal, Harris continued: “[I’m] majorly disappointed. And that’s probably where I’m really going with questioning do we defend our goal well enough. I’m probably really questioning the mentality to defend our goal. That’s the disappointment.
“Have we got that real hunger and desire and aggressive horrible nature to do it? Well, we did against Sheffield Wednesday and we did against Hull. But we didn’t against Watford or Bristol City, so why did we not have that again today with the same starting XI [that beat Sheffield Wednesday].
“I’ve reminded them in the changing room after the game in no uncertain terms. And they’ll certainly be reminded of that all week going into Saturday.”