Millwall boss on dip in away form as he admits side have failed to hit their levels consistently
BY ALEX GRACE
Gary Rowett admitted that Millwall are finding it hard to take that final step of closing the gap to the Championship play-off places.
The Lions were beaten 2-1 at Peterborough on Saturday and missed the chance to get themselves closer to the top six.
Millwall face Preston on Saturday before the packed festive schedule.
“We’re the sort of team that we’ve always been in that position since I’ve come here – we’ve managed to get ourselves into that position and we should be given good credit for doing that,” said Rowett.
“But to take that next step in this division is a real challenge. It’s games like today [Saturday] that define whether you’re going to get into those areas rather than games with volume over Christmas.
“I don’t think it’s any different. It’s just performances in games when maybe we’ve got that little bit of an underdog mentality because that’s what we’re all about. And then in the games when perhaps we’re expected to make the running and turn up in that attacking sense we’ve struggled. That’s probably going to be the difference.”
Millwall’s away record which has been so strong under Rowett has taken a hit this season with just two wins in the first 10 games away from The Den.
“We’ve lost two games now to Peterborough and Hull away from home,” said the Lions boss. “Our away form has gone from when we first came in to being fabulous, our home form wasn’t great. Our home form is now really, really good and our away form has taken a little bit of a dip.
“A little bit of consistency for us is a crucial part. When we first came in we were a very difficult team to break down, we were very difficult to score against. The emphasis on that hasn’t changed, our ability to do it at the moment has changed.
“We haven’t quite played with those same levels for probably the last two or three months, and that’s been disappointing.”
Tom Bradshaw has scored in three successive league games.
“It’s hard to be positive but that’s something we worked on with the movement of the front three getting into those sorts of those areas,” said Rowett. “Our front three, at times, looked quite bright – but we just didn’t give them enough ball. When we did they showed what they were capable of doing. To go 1-0 up away from home, it was a good start to the game.
“Bradders has scored another goal, he’s in good form. But the rest of it was disappointing, you’ve got to perform better than that in any game.
“It’s the Championship, any team can beat anyone. Peterborough showed a level that was as good as anything we’ve played this season. At that point you must go and match it. We were nowhere near that level.”