Millwall boss Gary Rowett expecting Birmingham City to be fired up after heavy loss at Blackpool

Former Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett is expecting his old club to be fired up for Millwall’s visit to St Andrew’s tomorrow.

The Lions are firmly in the race for the Championship play-offs with three fixtures remaining.

The Blues were demolished 6-1 at Blackpool on Monday and have nothing to play for but pride.

And Rowett believes that Lee Bowyer’s side will be determined to make amends for their shocker by the seaside.

“You have to remember that I’m probably a very good judge of the situation because I went in [at Birmingham] after the team had lost 8-1,” said Lions boss Rowett. “Sometimes at that point you kind of hit rock bottom. It gives you a bit of a chance – and I can’t judge from the outside what is going on there and what will happen – but all I can say is that usually on the back of that everyone is angry, disappointed and got a determination by the next game to do something about it.

“I’m pretty sure having managed and played in front of the Birmingham fans that they won’t really want to see their team do that again.

“They’ll demand a reaction, just like our fans would. We have to forget all that, go there and view it as it is – a bit like the Preston game. It’s going to be a hard game and we’ve got to go there and play a lot better than we have in some of the games recently to go and get a result.”

The Lions sold out their allocation of 1,781 tickets for the match with Birmingham only offering an extra few hundred earlier this week, with demand far outstripping supply.

Asked if it was disappointing that Millwall had not been allowed to fill out even more of St Andrew’s, Rowett replied: “If a club came to Millwall and said: ‘Actually we want to take 5,000 seats because there are 5,000 seats spare’, as a home manager would I want them to sell that regardless? You can argue about the atmosphere, but you can also think it sometimes helps the away side if they can get a lot more in.

“I don’t think it’s an issue. It shows our fans want to come and support the team and get behind us as such a crucial stage of the season. And I know Birmingham have had some issues at home in terms of some of the stadium not being available. When you watch a game almost the bottom row is empty because of that.

“Our fans will be there in full voice. The Birmingham fans will always try to get behind their team when they need it. It will be a cracking atmosphere but probably a tense atmosphere. It’s like anything at this stage of the season, everyone is on tenterhooks. Everyone is excited but there is that nervous excitement as well, which is fabulous. That is what you want for your team at the end of the season – to be playing for something big.

“Our fans, just like our players, are excited to go for it. We’re excited to attack the game. We’re excited to go there and try to play to our maximum – see what happens.

“But it’s a game of football and unfortunately two teams trying to win, instead of just one.”