Neil Harris frustrated by Millwall sharing spoils against Oxford United
Millwall head coach Neil Harris was left frustrated by their 1-1 draw at Oxford United this afternoon.
The Lions are unbeaten in nine Championship matches but looked to be heading for victory before Tyler Goodrham lashed home an excellent late equaliser.
Up until that point Millwall had done an excellent job nullifying the hosts and had finally made one of a multitude of first-half set-pieces count when Japhet Tanganga headed in Joe Bryan’s deep corner on the stroke of half-time.
Tanganga will be suspended for next weekend’s home game against Coventry after picking up his fifth caution of the season.
“The first half was excellent. We played really attacking-minded football,” said Harris. “We didn’t have that killer instinct to be two or three up at half-time unfortunately – or did we have it and we just haven’t got the quality in the building, that is the other side of Millwall Football Club.
“The game petered out in the second half. Oxford played better second half but without creating any chances until the goal. I never felt in any danger or uncomfortable at any stage.
“The glaringly obvious thing is that if you don’t get the second goal – to kill teams off – then you always leave yourself open to a wonderstrike into the top corner.
“We were poor off the ball in the second half and not as creative as the first half, but we still had plenty to ensure that we should have been coming away with a 1-0 victory.
“It’s the first goal that Oxford have conceded this season from a set-play. A great ball in and a great header by Japhet. Overall our set-pieces weren’t very good. Ultimately we have to be better with the ball in the final third and penalty area. Straight off the top of my head I can think of six balls across the six-yard box and we haven’t scored.
“We have to make sure we recruit the right players to be creative and score goals.
“We handled the game up to 80 minutes really well and then became a little bit ragged, lost our shape. We lost Josh Coburn to injury at half time, no Duncan Watmore and Hutch had to come off. It just shows how important certain players are in our group.
“We’re fully aware – and my players are – that we should have shut him (Goodrham) down earlier. Ultimately the lad has gone on his wrong foot and hit the ball into the top corner from 25 yards. It’s a brilliant goal.”
Millwall are still unbeaten in nine league matches, five of those draws. The Lions are 10th in the table – five points behind sixth-placed Watford but with a match in hand after the midweek fixture at Portsmouth did not go ahead due to a power failure.
“The football club has to remember that – that we’re nine unbeaten and how far we have come in a 10-month period,” said Harris. “But I guess that is the demand from me to the players and the football club – we don’t want to settle for what we have done. We want to be better all the time.
“I have to look at the positives and that we’ve played so well for 45 minutes. We got the blend right between being an aggressive Millwall team and defending shape – also we had excitement to our play, that’s also what we want.”