Millwall’s EFL Cup hero Murray Wallace could barely move by end of 3-1 win over Cambridge United
Millwall manager Gary Rowett revealed that Murray Wallace cramped up after his heroics in tonight’s 3-1 EFL Cup win over Cambridge.
The Scottish defender scored twice for the Lions as they avoided an upset at the hands of League One opposition.
George Williams had headed United in front from a free-kick but Wallace produced a quickfire double before the break.
Matt Smith converted from close range early in the second half as the Lions sealed their spot in the third round.
Rowett said: “Those cup ties are always a little bit testy because the other team turns up really wanting to put on a performance and turn you over. They’ll have looked at our last two results and felt we are not perhaps as confdent as we’d like to be.
“I made quite a lot of changes, I just felt it was the right opportunity for them to show what they can do. Also rest a few with the weekend in mind. Maikel Kieftenbeld felt really sore after the weekend. He’s such a whole-hearted player but you’ve got to remember he missed 10 days, shall I say through ‘illness’. He’s then gone straight into games at full tilt. We don’t want to lose players like that.
“The players who came in did really well. You’ve got to match the opposition’s mentality, workrate and endeavour. You hope somewhere along the line your quality shines through.
“We started quite well. If you play Smudge you’ve got to use him to good effect and hit him with good service. We played into him well and he’s intelligent, he knocked down into good areas and flicks things on to wing-backs. He looked a real threat early on. Bradders hits the crossbar and we have a few other chances.
“As it seems at the minute, they go the other end and score the set-piece. The lad just gets in front of Muzza, I think he’ll be disappointed but what he did do well is respond and he scored a fabulous goal himself. I don’t think Muzza will mind me saying that I didn’t expect him to do that. It was a brilliant piece of skill just to chop it inside. I think he used the fact that Smudge was in the box to make it look like he was going to cross it, he sees a space inside and hits a low, powerful drive into the bottom corner. It was fabulous.
“Then Smudge will be really disappointed. I can see his face – that’s like a tap in to Matt, the keeper saves it and Muzza pokes it in. It just settled us down, didn’t it.
“You saw a different side to Muzza you haven’t seen before. I said afterwards about it in the dressing room. I told him not to take it the wrong way, but I didn’t think I’d see you an inch away from a hat-trick. But I also didn’t think I’d ever see him get cramp as well. He’s probably our fittest player and strongest player – it shows his desperation to get in the back post and to try and get that goal.
“He has performed well this season. He’s a good character Muz, he just gives you everything he has got every game. He was really good. People probably didn’t realise in the last 15 minutes that he couldn’t move. We left him back at left-back and told him ‘just don’t go and press’. It probably took a little bit of energy away from us.
“Cambridge were excellent. They were a really bright side, moved you around even though they played in front of us quite a lot.
PICTURE: BRIAN TONKS