Millwall boss Gary Rowett gives his verdict on Jed Wallace return after ex-Lion suffers defeat at The Den

Jed Wallace suffered defeat on his Den return but Millwall manager Gary Rowett expects his West Bromwich side to climb the Championship table soon.

The Lions’ 2-1 win in SE16 pushed them up to fifth in the standings.

Wallace, who turned down fresh terms with the South Londoners to leave on a free, received a hostile reception. That was only exacerbated after he celebrated in front of the Cold Blow Lane end after setting up John Swift for the opening goal.

Millwall hit back through Callum Styles before Tyler Burey scored a late winner.

Asked if Wallace’s celebration had pumped up the home support’s noise levels, Rowett replied: “It’s always a bit of theatre isn’t it? If you’re going to whip the crowd up with a celebration then you’ve got to desperately hope your team wins rather than loses 2-1. Because it is always going to work against you.

“Jed’s an emotional character and a proud lad. He’ll have come here, I’m sure, with mixed emotions. There will have been a little bit of him desperate to do well in front of everyone – not that he has to prove anything – and win the game.

“What it’s shown is that he has decided to move on and we’ve moved on similarly.

“It was great to see him at the game but my focus is on the players here and the players who are in our team.

“Good luck to him. I’m sure when you see Jed Wallace, Swift and Karlan Grant in a front three that West Brom will turn their position around. They’ve got too much quality not to. We’ve shown it isn’t always about that in the Championship.

“Sometimes that togetherness and determination takes you a lot further than simply quality. Our team has shown that a little bit of both in abundance at the moment.”