‘Solidity is key’ – Millwall boss on how his side start converting scoring chances and end wait for Championship away win

Gary Rowett believes that Millwall getting their defensive shape right will help them start creating more goalscoring opportunities on their travels.

The Lions are hunting their first away win since March 5 when they face Blackburn Rovers tomorrow. And the stalemate at Ewood Park on March 8 is also the last time they kept a clean sheet on the road.

Millwall have drawn five of their last 10 away from The Den since Jake Cooper’s winner at Reading more than six months ago.

The Lions have taken one point from a possible 12 on their travels this season although they have faced three of the top four on their own patch – Sheffield United, Norwich City and Burnley. A Millwall player is yet to score away this season with the 2-2 draw at Swansea City seeing two injury-time own goals from Ben Cabango and Nathan Wood-Gordon.

But now they get two chances to improve their away record, with fixture at Rotherham on Wednesday following the Blackburn clash.

“We need to be braver on the ball,” Rowett told the South London Press. “We haven’t had as much possession as we have at home. Sometimes it’s easier to be braver in front of your own fans than it is in front of an opposition’s fans.

“Also sometimes creating opportunities comes from your own defensive shape. We’ve conceded too many goals, which is something we want to address. If we can get a little bit more solidity – get a better shape and get our pressing strategy a little more compact and effective – then we’ll create more chances off of that.

“I’d be stupid as a manager not to take into account the difficulty of the games we’ve played away from home. Therefore I don’t want to be too reactive at this stage of the season – we’re only two points off the play-offs ourselves.”

Millwall have collected 13 points from their opening 11 games, their joint-second best return in the last 13 seasons at this stage. They were on 16 in the 2020-21 campaign and there are three other seasons where they managed their current haul.

“We have to be realistic about where we are, and where we are in comparison to other seasons,” said Rowett, who is the second longest-serving manager in the Championship following Paul Warne’s departure from Rotherham last week. “Yes, we want to be better and yes, we want to aspire to be better. But, at the same time, we’ve been here many times before. It’s about a consistency, building and getting better along the way.

“It’s about how you finish the season and the middle part of it – just as much as how you start it. The key for us is to get off the mark away from home and that will build confidence, give us a real lift. We’ve got to do everything we can to see if we can do that away at Blackburn.”

Shaun Hutchinson (groin) and Mason Bennett (hamstring) are set to return from injury. Ryan Leonard’s scan on his hamstring has shown that he faces another few weeks on the sidelines.