‘Siege mentality’ within Millwall squad as Rowett set to make late calls on sidelined trio

Millwall are set to make late calls on the availability of Oliver Burke, Duncan Watmore and Aidomo Emakhu for tomorrow’s Championship match at Luton Town.

Burke and Emakhu missed out on featuring in the 1-0 win at Stoke City due to illness.

Watmore took a bang to the knee in training which also made him sit the fixture out.

Asked about Watmore and Burke, both January transfer window signings, Rowett told the South London Press: “Both are going to be last-minute calls.

“We’ve done a very, very light session this morning. Duncan did part of that and Burkey, after being ill, did a little bit of that. We’ll have to see how Burkey feels after that because he tried to train last week and felt bad afterwards – therefore we didn’t risk him. It might well be that we do the same for this one.

“There’s a chance that Burkey, Aidomo and Duncan might be available, but that might just mean that is not for the whole game on Tuesday.

“Certainly if one or two are available it will make a big difference to what we can put on the bench.”

Rowett says there are other players who are pushing on despite niggles.

“It is a normal situation at this time of the year,” said the Lions boss. “We’ve got two or three who are carrying knocks and trying to get through it, most clubs will be in the same position. Obviously we have got the players out who are crucial players that we can’t afford to miss at the moment.

“What I would say is that whenever we have been in these positions is that the players who have been available have given everything they can and we’ve tended to get good results off the back of it. There is a real siege mentality within the group.

“If I think back to Coventry last year, when we had hardly any players, we got through. And I look at the weekend and our bench clearly showed the lack of fit senior bodies and it was a similar situation. Credit to the players for soldiering on and keeping on going, which is not easy.”