Millwall boss Rowett: Margin of defeat to Leeds United was harsh

Gary Rowett has described the 3-0 defeat to Leeds United this afternoon as a “harsh” reflection on his Millwall side.

Joel Piroe scored twice for the Yorkshire visitors, once in either half, with Georginio Rutter also on target.

There was a debate over Piroe’s 15th-minute opener for United with referee Chris Kavanagh ruling that the scorer’s challenge on Kevin Nisbet at the other end of the pitch was not a foul.

“I just spoke to the players and when you lose 3-0 at home it never feels good or looks good – but I don’t think it necessarily tells the whole picture of the game,” Rowett told Sky Sports. “When we played Norwich, in front of you guys, we were poor. We didn’t work hard enough and weren’t aggressive enough – we weren’t the Millwall we have been under my tenure of the last three or four years.

“We started well today. We were aggressive and moved the ball well. First half you could argue we were probably the more dominant team in certain areas. We get some good moments and lots of set-pieces – we probably need to make a little more of those moments.

“Then we get done by one moment. It is a decision the ref has to make. I’m not blaming him for it. All I said at the time was: ‘You have to be right’. Because there was a lot of falling over and players going down easily – on both sides.

“They then counter attack us and go and score. It is a difficult goal to concede because I don’t think we deserved that. That is what a team like Leeds can do – they’ve got lots of pace and players one-v-one who can go and get in those areas.

“If I look at it back (the first goal) it might be that I agree and don’t think it was a foul. It was disappointing to score from that far up the pitch, to break.

“I then have a really difficult decision. At home, we want to try and go and win the game – give ourselves a chance to do that. I knew I’d have to open the game up after 60 minutes – take a gamble. I could’ve probably stuck with it longer and seen if we could just nick something, but I don’t think that was particularly proactive from my perspective. You risk knowing there is James on the bench, Anthony on the bench and Gelhardt on the bench – we made probably two more mistakes and they score from them.

“Three-nil is harsh. It shows what a good and clinical side Leeds are. They’ll go on to be a very good team under Daniel – but we’re disappointed. I feel for the players a little bit.”