‘Perfect start’ – Millwall defender impressed by Leeds United loanee’s instant impact

Murray Wallace heaped praise on Millwall match winner Charlie Cresswell after the Lions defeated Stoke City 2-0 at The Den.

The Leeds loanee struck in either half and his fellow centre-back Wallace was very impressed with the 19-year-old.

Wallace said: “Perfect start, that’s what you want – home performance, packed out Den.

“Although it wasn’t the best quality sort of game but the way we approached it, our attitude and energy was really good today.

“He [Cresswell] was brilliant, we look at Coops and think he’s the main threat. Unselfishly a lot of times he took a lot of defenders away and left space for me and Cressy.

“Cressy could’ve had another, two brilliant goals from him and what a start. It’s something that we’ve worked on, Coops is definitely not always going to be a decoy.

“All of our presence is hard for teams to know who’s going to be back stick, who’s going to be the target.

“He’s buzzing, I’ve just asked him if that’s his first professional goals and it was. I was telling him about Danny Mac and how he was waiting on his first professional goal and two came along at the same time.

“He’s scored two and probably could’ve had three – the perfect hat-trick. I’m sure he’ll score plenty more goals this season.

“His attitude is excellent for a young lad – the way he approaches things is excellent. His composure on the ball, aggressive, everything you want from a centre-back.

“It’s no secret that set-pieces are a real strength of ours, we’re normally up there – the highest goals from set-pieces.

“We’re expected to chip in with a few goals and be a bit of a handful and Cressy was the main man today.”