‘Outstanding’ – Millwall boss Gary Rowett on 2-0 win at Watford on Boxing Day
Gary Rowett hailed Millwall’s performance against Watford as “outstanding” as the Lions eased to a 2-0 win at Vicarage Road.
Andreas Voglsammer broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute with a crisp low finish to open his Lions account. Hassane Kamara was dismissed towards the end of the first-half for lashing out at Danny McNamara to leave the Hornets with a mountain to climb.
Zian Flemming sealed the points against the depleted hosts with his 10th goal of a season direct from a free-kick seven minutes from time.
The result, which nudged Millwall back into the Championship play-off places, means the Lions have beaten the Hornets home and away this term.
And Rowett was delighted with the impressive performance of his side, who were in control from start to finish.
“Lots to be pleased about today,” said Rowett. “I certainly don’t want the sending off to overshadow the fact that we were outstanding against 11 men early on. We stepped on to them.
“It was a very different game today. At home, we went quite direct quite early and it worked, so we kept doing it and didn’t need to change anything, really. Today, I think we had to mix up the performance. There were times we stepped up and pressed really, really well. We were really aggressive, we stopped their front four, who are as good as any in the division. You can’t give them space, you can’t allow them opportunities to run, so really impressed with the start of the game.
“To come somewhere like here, to have not played for a while because our game against Luton was called off, we actually looked like we had the bit of zip about us more than Watford.
“We thoroughly deserved the goal. We probably should have scored before that and maybe even after that in the first half. Great work from Bradders, [he] nudged the defender just enough to give him a chance to control it, it’s a lovely little touch and he puts Vogey in. That’s what Vogey’s threatened to do – he does it every day in training. It’s that right foot, clinical, bottom corner.
“I’ve stood here in front of you many times and I’ve been amazed that he hasn’t scored yet because when you see him in training, he is deadly. I think that’ll do him the world of good. The players showed what a good team player he is by their reaction to him scoring.
“Like I said, going into half-time, I thought we were very, very good.”
Hornets boss Slaven Bilic was less than enthused with some of the decisions made by referee Josh Smith – but Rowett hit back at suggestions that Tom Bradshaw fouled a Watford defender to set up Voglsammer for Millwall’s opener.
Rowett added: “Maybe last season that might have been a foul. We’ve had so many against us this season where we’ve been told it’s acceptable contact, so for me, I didn’t think that was a massive problem.
“I think they might have been a little bit disappointed with a penalty shout in the first half, it certainly looked quite close but I haven’t seen it back. Red card looked clear to me – the lad’s struck Danny in the face. It wasn’t a powerful strike, it wasn’t a knockout blow, but you can’t raise your hands in those situations and the referee was very close to it. It’s a difficult game, I thought it was quite a physical game.
“At one point I felt as though the game might get evened up a little bit because Sav got booked. I think Bacuna was lucky, he made a foul on Zian in the middle of the pitch, didn’t get a second yellow and Sav got a yellow a few seconds later for something that didn’t look too bad, but of course, Joao Pedro ended up coming off because of it.
“I’m not going to disagree with Slaven – sometimes those moments go for you, sometimes their big moments that go against you and it’s frustrating at times, but I’ve got no doubts people are trying to do their jobs the best they can.”