Alex Neil praised Millwall’s character after his side came back in the second half to secure a 2-2 away draw against Sheffield Wednesday earlier today.
The Owls took an early lead through Yan Valery’s seventh minute strike, and nearly doubled their lead in the 42nd minute when Joe Bryan was penalised for a shove in the box, but Ike Ugbo fired the penalty over the bar.
The Lions rode their luck in the second half, with Wednesday hitting the woodwork three times, before equalising through George Honeyman in the 65th minute. Ryan Wintle scored in the 83rd minute to put Millwall in the lead, and looked set to have given the Lions their first away win since October, but Gabriel Otegbayo’s tap in two minutes later put paid to those ambitions.
Millwall left Hillsborough with a vital away point after losing five out of their prior seven games, and Neil was delighted with his side’s second-half resilience.
“We didn’t want it to be a frantic game, Neil said. “I obviously watched the last time we played Sheffield Wednesday at The Den and we made it a restart the game, put it forward, player on the second ball type of game and that wasn’t what it was.
“It was end-to-end and it didn’t suit us, particularly in the first half. I thought we tried to open the pitch up and started play passes, which arguably made them more dangerous than it made us.
“We were delighted that it was only 1-0 at the end of the first half, and that was the discussion point really. And the fact that we’ve now got a great opportunity in the second half to go and be better and to go and give ourselves a chance of picking up some points.
“All credit to the lads. I thought they rallied. I thought they fought and they scrapped and they did their little bits and we showed quality when we needed to for the two goals. George Honeyman’s first touch is brilliant. His finish is excellent and then Wints’ strike at the edge of the box to, to put us in the lead.
“I think the only frustration that I’ve got really is the fact that we don’t see it out at that point. The problem I’ve got with the goal is the fact that we should slide across and stop the first pass going outside us. I think when the ball comes in the box it’s difficult because it takes a flick on and it misfoots us a little bit, so there’s not much you can do about that. But certainly that first instance we can certainly do better.
“In the first half we were jumping out at things we’ve got no right to jump out to and in the second half I thought we were much more controlled to a certain extent not with the ball but controlled in terms of defensively for us.
“Don’t get me wrong Sheffield Wednesday had some good combinations and looked threatening. But I thought we controlled those moments certainly better because I thought first half of the game was so wide open and like I said that that wasn’t how we wanted it to be.
“I’m delighted for the team because let’s be honest on the balance of the game a point is a great point for us. We played far, far better last week and we lost and that’s what the Championship’s about.
“So my job at the moment is to try and give the lads the best opportunity to get points on the board and I felt in the second half to stop us dropping out and making the pitch big, and playing inside their shape and being direct and playing around second balls was going to give us the best chance to do that, because you make them defend.
“Do they make any mistakes? They did for the first goal. That gave us a chance and gave us a bit of confidence back into the game.
“I thought we looked better from that point onwards after the first goal. I thought you could see a little bit of confidence in the game from us, and listen, I’m not saying we opened a pitch up and started playing great free-flowing football, but we were effective at what we did and it got us a point.”
Today’s match marked the first time Millwall have scored more than one goal in a game since last September.
When asked if his work on the training ground had started to take root, Neil said. “No, if I’m being honest because I haven’t had one day on the pitch with the players yet in terms of an actual proper training session.
“That’s been really difficult for me, standing at the side when we haven’t really done any work together and I’m trying to give them information and they’re tired and they’ve played five games in twelve days and all of that, and we’ve had to travel up yesterday.
“I’m not looking for any sympathy, but it’s difficult when you’re getting judged when you haven’t really had a huge amount of impact in how we play. But what I think it does show is the character and the grit and the determination of the squad, which is a great starting point for us.”