Millwall captain Hutchinson: Now is absolutely not the time to feel sorry for ourselves

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Millwall captain Shaun Hutchinson has told his team-mates they cannot start feeling sorry for themselves after their Championship play-off hopes took a turn for the worse in midweek.

The Lions lost 1-0 to Birmingham City in SE16 on Tuesday – the fifth time in six league matches in which they have failed to score.

But Hutchinson is determined that Gary Rowett’s squad rid themselves of any disappointment ahead of back-to-back away trips at relegation-haunted Wigan and Blackpool.

“It is a cliche but we need to dust ourselves down and go again,” the centre-back told the South London Press.

“We’ve got plenty of time in the summer to feel sorry about it, if we don’t quite make it. I believe we can do it. I believe in the players we have got. We need to recover as much as we can for an absolutely ginormous three games coming up.

“Tuesday was very frustrating, especially the way we conceded the goal. Every time we lose a game it seems to be the same way. They nick a scrappy little goal and we can’t break them down.

“The boys were obviously very deflated in the dressing room afterwards because we literally gave our all – we can’t give any more. We’re such a hard-working team, we graft in every single match. It was a tough one to take.

“We need to focus on the job ahead and pick up the points we need.

“It almost felt after the game the other night that we had blown the whole thing. We’re still in with a massive shout.

“We’ve probably got one of the best work ethics in the division. The gaffer is never going to question that. We are all willing to run all game, every game – Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday. The issue is more that we expect a bit better of ourselves in terms of the overall points return, rather than the actual performance.

“We should have enough to get these points that we’re not quite getting right now.

“It has been different this season. In the past we’ve been chasing the pack and it’s always been a message that we’re not talking about the play-offs and we’re taking every game as it comes. Whereas even from the start of this season you were thinking ‘right, we’ve got a good squad and we’re ready to go – play-offs are the target and the ambition’. Anything less than that and we’re not happy.

“Now that we’re in there, trying to get over the finish line is proving to be quite tough for us.

“Results of late haven’t been good enough. In terms of performances, it’s very easy to just say that we’ve played poorly on Tuesday – that it was rubbish. But I watched the game back when I got home on Tuesday night and we weren’t rubbish. We’re just not scoring at the right times and conceding at the wrong times.”

Hutchinson says any input from him in the dressing room in the immediate aftermath of the Birmingham reverse would have been counter-productive.

“It can be difficult for the manager to say too much when the work ethic is there – you’re not failing for a lack of effort,” said the Geordie. “You’re failing because of a bit of quality or things not falling your way.

“Emotions are high after a game and there is no point me shouting and bawling – saying this and that – when you have not watched it back and you’ve not seen how things have unfolded from a different point of view.”

It was Hutchinson’s 85th minute header at Bristol Rovers – on the final day of the 2016-17 League One season – that clinched a 4-3 win and saw Millwall secure a play-off place.

It’s looking like the current crop’s hopes of managing the feat in the Championship could also be up in the air until the visit of Blackburn on May 8.

“We fancy ourselves at home and after the Preston win we thought that if we could beat Birmingham it would mean we probably need one more win from the next three,” said Hutchinson.

“It’s like anything in the Championship, it’s never easy. It’s now looking like it might go right until the end.

“Over the season we have put in so much effort and got some cracking results to give us the points tally until now. Why can’t we get over the line now? We’d be absolutely devastated if not, because at the start of the season that was our focus.

“It might be the case that Wigan have to come out and win the game – but we certainly need to go and win as well. It’s not like we can just sit back and see a draw out. We need to be front foot.”