Millwall boss Rowett: We had glaring chances to score and push Fulham closer

Gary Rowett was left ruing his Millwall side missing big chances in tonight’s 3-0 loss at Championship leaders Fulham.

The Lions had at least three major opportunities to halve the deficit in the second period before Bobby Decordova-Reid killed off their prospects.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored in each half to take his tally to 30 for the campaign with three months still left to play.

But Marek Rodak made stops from Jed Wallace and Benik Afobe as Millwall caused plenty of problems down the other end.

Rowett said: “We’ve performed really well for large parts of the game. We’ve made the best side in the division, with the best attacking quality in the division by far, a little bit uncomfortable in points of the game.

“The third goal  is two yards offside. Fulham don’t need any help in those situations – they have got really good, clinical players. At 2-0 we get some absolutely glaring chances – if we take them then we’ve got a chance, at least, of getting something out of the game at a difficult place.

“Large bits of it were really promising. I really don’t think 3-0 was a fair reflection of the performance.

“Jed’s is a big chance and so is Benik’s as well – he gets clean in and you just need to find that little bit of composure to find the finish. Mason [Bennett] has one not long before that also. It’s those moments.

“If you look at their chances in open play, you could actually argue we created the clearer chances. What they do is they score goals different ways. The first one they break away from our set-piece and we defend it badly. If you leave someone in the box, you certainly don’t leave Mitrovic – there are two players who should have marked him. It’s a very poor goal from our perspective.

“The second is a set-piece that has gone back into the box and we don’t deal with that moment again. I expect our players to be able to do that – we’re a physical team and a strong team.  We can’t give goals away in those scenarios. The third goal was very, very clear offside.

“Yes, Fulham are going to have their moments and put you on the back foot because they are a fabulous side. That was always our gameplan was to reduce the space for them for 60 minutes, to make sure we had good control out of possession and pick and choose when to go and attack. We had players in the last 30 minutes we felt could go and get something out of the game. The game really panned out like that, but we conceded poor goals at poor times.

“If you come to places like this and get turned over when you’re never in it then I think you can accept it. But in the last six or seven games, I’d say five have been really good performances and we haven’t got the results we perhaps warranted.

“If you look at some like Mitrovic, for all the little niggly moments that happen in the game, he’s a winner. He’s ruthless. He knows how to win games and make those moments count. It’s why he’s scored so many goals and that’s why he is probably as good as any striker who has been in the Championship.

“What we’ve got to do is show the same ruthlessness – because we have those moments. In both boxes at the moment those small margins we’re allowing to go the other way – that’s why we’ve played well and not going the points we’ve deserved.

“We’ve got 17 games to go – we’ve got a bit of a choice, really. Do we want to just be a mediocre, average Championship side – which I think would be unfair on our team, because I think we’re better than that, or are we prepared to show in those moments what we need to do to win the game?

“It’s why the top teams buy the top players – because they are the ones who make the difference. If you look at Mitrovic, Solanke and Brereton, clearly they are the ones who are defining the top teams and where they are. Of course you have to have a team around it – Fulham have lots of good players. But those moments turn okay performances into winning moments. We’ve played really well, created chances, not taken them and come in on the back of a defeat – we’re all disappointed. That’s the difference in this league.”